NEW ALBUM: VICTORIOUS

I so excited about a new album Harvest Worship released on Tuesday. It's 8 original worship songs that we have introduced at Harvest Bible Chapel in Oakville. As a worship ministry, we are praying God uses these songs and future songs to build and grow a deeper worship culture in the church. One of the ways we are hoping to do that is through a new website harvestworship.ca where we will post songs, charts, video's and other resources we are finding helpful.

If you haven't picked up a copy of the new release we would love it if you did! You can get it on iTunes here:

Canada Store
US Store

ZOO

HARVEST WORSHIP | 2 SONG SAMPLER

Our team has been working hard on a new 8 song project featuring songs around the theme of Easter. You can now download the title track "Victorious" and "Came to Save" 2 songs featured on this project for FREE!

The full length album comes out every on April 12, 2012 or Easter Sunday if you have tickets to Easter Together at the Hershey Centre.

FAMILY DAY

Love my family so much. Loved making a first memory with my little boy today. We went to the Toronto Car Show. He was a class act and a joy to hang with! Amazed I get to call him my son.

BUILD A BEAR

Spent the day with London today. We went to build a bear where he picked out a little Koala Bear and named it 'LaLa'
He's napping with it now. A great day.

A GREAT NIGHT TOGETHER

The band and I lead tonight at McMaster U for about 300 students passionate to see Jesus move on their campus.

WHY I HATE RELIGION BUT LOVE JESUS

Interestingly I posted this yesterday when it had 300 views. Today for some reason it has over 6 million. Funny thing this internet.

With all the views comes all the buzz, comes the sides comes the analysis, comes the you get what I mean. However a man I highly respect and admire (Kevin DeYoung) posted a critique of this video going line by line. I'd invite you to read it, chew on what he's saying and let me know your thoughts.

Here is a excerpt from the article:

"The word “religion” occurs five times in English Standard Version of the Bible. It is, by itself, an entirely neutral word. Religion can refer to Judaism (Acts 26:5) or the Jewish-Christian faith (Acts 25:19). Religion can be bad when it is self-made (Col. 2:23) or fails to tame the tongue (James 1:26). But religion can also be good when it cares for widows and orphans and practices moral purity (James 1:27). Unless we define the word to suit our purposes, there is simply no biblical grounds for saying Jesus hated religion. What might be gained by using such language will, without a careful explanation and caveats, be outweighed by what is lost when we give the impression that religion is the alloy that corrupts a relationship with Jesus."

Here is the link to the entire article:

MORNING INSPRIATION

Stop animation. Shot in Toronto at one of the bookstores on Queen. There would be about 30 different photos taken per second to make this work. Amazing.

ELEPHANT ROOM 2

What is the Elephant Room conference?

The Elephant Room isn't about men side stepping around real issues the church faces.

It is however disrupting the way we think, the way we lead, and the way we do church with the intent to God's word as our standard rather than pragmatics or popularity.

I think its safe to say we believe uncomfortable conversations, passionate discussion, tense dialogue can sometimes lead us to see Jesus more clearly. Getting tied up in church work we tend to even at times looses sight to the work of the church. I believe Pastor James' heart for this day isn't making friends or even being nice, his heart in all of this is to open up a space where real dialogue can happen and we can lay the facts on the table about what God has clearly laid out in His word for us.

This conference isn't for the church goer looking to be a fly on the wall, its way more than that! It's for the church leader looking to seek wisdom and council from men just like you and I who desire to make our life and ministry count for the Kingdom.

January 25, 2012 is going to be Round 2, a new roster of leaders, more in-your-face conversations and at the end we believe a greater understanding of truth and unity.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Here are some elements from our Christmas Eve services this year at Harvest. Enjoy!