Pyromania Part 1

Rise Up, Gather Round
OK, so I’ve been wrestlin’ with something ever since I left the Unleash Conference at NewSpring a couple of weeks ago and here it is…

I got so FIRED up to see the people of NewSpring Church making such a huge difference in their community and so ON FIRE for God that they couldn’t help but breathe the flames right back at the people who walked thru their church doors. (At one point I even thought I felt the heat from the flames on the back of my neck – and then I realized it was just the guy behind me in line at the snack table, and I think he must’ve enjoyed some extra mustard on his Chik-Fil-A from lunch!)

I’ll have to admit I was a little envious of what was going on here at this church. It was evident to me that the people of NewSpring were genuinely serving with passion and with FIRE and this church was reaching their community for Christ. They weren’t sitting around talking about doing church, they were actually doing it …and with excellence and creativity, I might add!

At this point I wanted to move to Anderson just to be a part of what they had going on there [was even dreaming about the CM Director position that was open for their new Greenville campus – like that would ever happen!] and was longing to be a part of a body of believers who were so ON FIRE for God that they were willing to do whatever it takes to reach their community for Him..

Seeing this FIRE in Anderson, SC moved me so much that it prompted me to ask this question of myself and of God: Why can’t we have that FIRE in our people at Madison Community Church in Richmond, KY?

After thinking and thinking and thinking [I’m from KY, it takes me a little longer to process things!] about this question, it finally hit me. You’re probably asking yourself – what is it? Well, it was not a definite answer to my question [that’d be too easy!] but the answer does lie within it. … as it is a principle that goes back to the song that I woke up singing a couple of days ago.

You see, God talks to me in a variety of ways and one way He talks to me is through a song [mostly old 80’s tunes that once ruled my life as a teen…strange, I know!] that I hear on the radio at the right moment, or a song that out of nowhere pops into my head but fits the situation I’m in. Not just any song, a song that stirs such a powerful reaction deep within my soul that I can’t deny it was a message directly from God.

This time the song that He chose to share with me was “Rock of Ages”, and it came to me as soon as I got out of bed & my feet hit the floor. By the time I hit the shower, I was singing the chorus to the top of my lungs in my “full glory”.

Now I wish I could say the song I was singing was the old hymn “Rock of Ages” but I actually mean the song by Def Leppard from it’s 1983 Pyromania album! “Why this song?”, you say. I think because the principle of Pyromania can be directly applied to finding the answer for my question above. [still follow?]

Maybe the FIRE that we saw at NewSpring was a FIRE that we have to ignite ourselves back in Richmond. Think about it, could this song that God brought to my brain be a call to action, a call to set things on FIRE? [now that I think about it, I guess fires just don’t “happen” on their own, now do they?] Could God be trying to tell me/us something here? Could He be trying to lead me to answer my own question?

I’ll try to share with you what He said to me through this song (in reference to my question above) in 2 more blog posts to follow. Til then, just think about how powerful this song really is when given the context of starting a FIRE for Him.

After all, the song does start out with a battle cry using four words that I don’t even understand [“Gunter glieben glauchen globen” hope I just didn’t cuss somebody out in German or anything!] but nonetheless four words that seem to get me FIRED up ‘cause I know what’s coming next… “Rise up! gather round. Rock this place to the ground”.

Isn’t that what we should be doing to start the FIRE for Jesus? Risin’ up, gatherin’ round and rockin’ this place to the ground…all in His name!

Just something to consider…

It’s now late and it’s back to school for me tomorrow after a week of Spring Break. Think I’ll go listen to my I-pod before hitting the hay, I think I hear Bon Jovi calling my name…