::praise Him all creatures here below::

so thanksgiving just ended...i love thanksgiving. it was a great day, and it was spent with friends and family; just the remedy from the hectic college life. i miss my old friends and my best friends and the normal life. tom gave me the chance to do the thanksgiving morn service at Bethlehem again this year, and it was a really special time...full of worship and fellowship and thanksgiving. it was beautiful.

as i sit here reading old care cards from workcamp 06 in mattawan, michigan, i find it near impossible to look back on the last 2 years of my life to see the hand of God in the hardened clay. pretty incredible. He's amazing, isn't He? that camp was beyond words. He blessed me with a great crew...a crew that will forever hold one of my best friends. Miku Vaniman. yeah. what a friend! reading some of her care cards to me...some of the things she said just really touched me. the way she talked about my faith...it doesn't make sense looking back. i suppose it is different when you see your own faults. but yeah, she is an incredible person; someone i will always consider one of my best friends of all time. it's funny, because looking back, i think i learned a lot more in faith from miku than miku learned from me. it's tough now though...my ole iowan buddy is so far away. it would be incredible to just catch up on her life and see how she is doing and what God is doing in her. she is with a wonderful guy, she says. praise God! this guy she is dating seems to be right on track with Jesus, eagerly pursuing His throne. i know she is doing the same. what joy is in my heart when i learn of such things! i am so proud of her. that girl will forever be a huge part of my past, present, and future.

looking back on that week, i read care cards about the deep heart-to-heart's that Lindsey and i had in that western michigan town. wow. how awesome is that? knowing our humble beginnings as best friends rooted in Jesus...it's inspiring. it makes me wanna try harder at all things. it's a beautiful thing. she has been a blessing. i sure am thankful for her, even though she doesn't even know the degree to which i am thankful, nor i am not sure she ever will. she's always going to be my best friend above all else...hallelujah! she's the first person/thing i think of when i wake up and the last i think of before sleeping. God created a beautiful woman in her. i am blessed.

the last picture i have looking back on wc 06 was 'let us adore.' the crew got to lead the camp in a closing worship song. the emotion was surely evident. the moment matt rowley first stood up to worship in that audience, God was just landing on Mattawan High. that song prepared a way in the desert for God to land. and boy, did He! the worship was palpable. as long as i live, that will continue to be one of my favorite moments in worship. i am thankful for the opportunity we were granted that night.

i'm going to look beyond the football and food tonight, and focus on the Cross.

that's all i want to do. worship.



-joe
::happy thanksgiving::

::praise God from whom all blessings flow::

so i'm laying in my bed in my dorm room bed in 3rd shields at eastern nazarene college ('the naz' for short)...and i sure can feel the end of the semester approaching. this has definitely been an interesting semester for sure. it's been full of ups and downs. the ups have been great. i've thouroughly enjoyed singing in the enc gospel choir. i love the direction of mike payne, the music from lionel and the band, and the hearts of everyone involved. getting the opportunity to sing 'how can i keep from singing' on our fall tour was pretty special for me.

i have made a bunch of incredible friends here at enc. i've really been blessed. i've been blessed with meeting my new bro, lionel. the kid flat out has a heart for Jesus. it's incredible to watch him chase after God. he's got a passion for leading worship, as i do, which makes it sure easy to talk about worship with him. whenever he's leading worship or just singing or even playing piano while we pray...you can feel the spirit of God in the house. lionel leads in a great way, and i look forward to getting to lead with him and just live lives for God. he's someone i can trust to talk to and go to with my problems, and he's not afraid to keep someone accountable. awesome guy serving the Awesome God.
another great friend i've met here at the naz is miria. she's been a really great friend to me so far this year. i thiknk that the way that we met was so funny though. "mike told me to say hi to you.." "oh...okay...........hi." "hi...." hahaha. so funny. but yeah. she's an incredible person with a heart following after what she thinks God's will is. it's been great watching her this semester as she seeks the will of God on her major and life plan. good for her. i was blessed to worship next to her at passion::boston. she really went all out for Him. she's a great person to talk to and spend time with.
i've loved getting to meet and hang out with the music major crew. winders, denbow, alex, adrian, dan, trista, etc. there's a ton more, but those are the ones i see the most. we all have like 57 classes together (oh, the life of a music major!...), and we get to spend a lot of time together because of it, but it's great. they're all great people.
there are other great guys in the dorm with ben, mike across the hall, mike down the hall, noah, scott, peter, etc. just a really great floor full of some cool guys and mclovin. but yeah. God's blessed me with great friends so far this year. it's made the transition a lot easier.

there's a bunch of other great things about college, but to be honest...right now i am just...

exhausted and stressed out.

i'm tired and this semester has taken its toll on me. i had senioritis my sophomore year in high school, so getting back in the swing of things this semester has not been easy. with my 10 classes, i've gotten a work out. i complain too much. sure i have 10 classes, but God is blessing me with the energy to get it all done. that's not fathomable, but hey, i'll take it!
i've had my fair share of problems with the way things have gone down on campus. sometimes the spiritual life here bums me out. other times, it's something someone says or believes. but hey, God has me at the naz for a reason.

the toughest thing so far this semester is missing my lindsey and my brother, shea. i miss shea like crazy, and i'm really proud of him. it sounds like he's doing great in florida, and good for him. the gallery is doing great, and that's awesome. they're a good band, and they are getting their due respect, so it's been earned. i miss him though. it's tough because he was supposed to be my roomie here at naz, and now he's obviously not...so it hasn't been easy. he comes home in december for semester break, so that's only a few weeks away, and i'm so so so pumped.
being away from linds hasn't been easy either, but we're working through it and through the things life throws at us. we'll make it beyond all that stuff though...it's just what God wants, ya know?

i can't wait til thanksgiving turkey and football and even Christmas. yes.




God bless.
-jw

celebrate!

hey i was just thinking...ya'll should come to my school's gospel choir concert tomorrow night. it's going to be a fun, special, praise-filled night! we're going to be raising socks and clothing for local shelters..it's going to be great. it's all about 'do something now!'

if you're in the area:
enc
23 east elm ave
quincy, ma

it's at cove!

God bless!
-jw

you and i were made to worship

so i'm sitting in my dorm room up here in quincy, mass...(that's 'quin-zee,' for all you non-locals)...i'm watching chris tomlin lead 'made to worship' live from passion06 on youtube. now this blog is named after this song. my screen name is 'madetoworship107'...i see the words quite frequently...but what does it really mean?







i think at this point in my life, it means that God is going to use me in ways that i just cannot comprehend. we serve a huge God...a God with plans and ways and thoughts that are so far above us that we'll just never understand how complex and wonderful He is!



but what does He want me to do right now?







at this point, i face a large challenge...it is my hope, my dream, my desire to lead people in worship of God. i want to lead people the way chris or charlie, matt or dave do. i want that opportunity...but the truth is, i live in the northeast...well known for it's cold temperatures, and it's coldness towards Christ. could it be that i was raised here for a reason? i'm thinking God has me doing His work in Boston and the surrounding area. i wanted to go down south to liberty for so long, and now i am at eastern nazarene next to boston...it would be easier to go down south where people are more open to the Word, but maybe He has me in Boston for a reason.







greater things are still to come in Boston, Massachusetts!











maybe i can be part of that...















i want to be used by Him...i want to write the songs that people can sing and use in their worship...







-jw

Passion::Boston

Hey everyone...long time no blog.

Passion came to Boston on Oct 12-13...and it was incredible. The experience was just amazing...right up there in my mind with Passion07 in the ATL. The thing about it was...there were honestly not that many people...I remember walking into the BU arena and seeing only a few sections of seats full and a few rows on the floor...and it floored me. Just a few months earlier, I was worshiping with 23,000+ in Atlanta's Phillips Arena at Passion07. And I just was let down by the lack of people at Boston....at first. But that feeling very soon dissolved. Chris Tomlin led in that Friday night, and the place was rocking. Chris taught us a new song called "Sing Sing Sing." You are all going to love it (i think it'll come out on a Passion album soon!)...but the place was loud. LG was amazing that night. He was incredible all weekend. I love Louie. His words reach out to me and pull me in like no other speaker's. I tried to go meet him at one point, but the guards wouldn't let me by. Bummer haha. Anyways...on Saturday, satan really tried to knock me down. My alarm clock magically didn't go off...let's put it this way...I was supposed to be leading my group of friends to Passion on the T at 8:30. I didn't wake up until 9. It really upset me, but God took the day and just used it as a wonderful tool in my life. Steve Fee led that morning, and I had never heard Steve lead before, but the guy's music is SO anointed! I thought he led worship in a beautiful way. Charlie led later in the day, and that was amazing. I love Charlie and his lyrics. He is so creative. When I lead worship, I love using his songs because they reach so many people.
That night, I ran with two of my friends from Eastern Nazarene to the floor. I was fifteen feet away from CT! Chris led beautiful worship that night...and being on the floor....WOW. THE PEOPLE IN THE CROWD WERE SO LOUD! The 1,500 of us honestly sounded like 10,000. I'm being totally serious. Chris sang the theme of Passion::Boston that night. He sang a song called "God of this City." In the background of the words on the big screen were pictures and videos of Boston, and the people in the audience went nuts. "That's our city! That's our mission field! And God is COMING!"

The chorus of the song went like this:

"For greater things have yet to come,
and greater things are still to be done in this city!"

So powerful! The weekend was beautiful. God is already doing great things in Boston. When the Sox won the World Series a few days ago, Mike Timlin praised God in the lockerroom afterward and talked about his faith and what God was doing through a guy like John Lester, who battled back from cancer to win game 4 of the WS. Wow! He's here. He's moving right now in Boston. Believe it.

It's time for Boston to adopt the Sox slogan:

Keep the faith!

-Joe
(p.s. I'm trying to get a bunch of people together to go to Passion::Washington, DC in Feb. I can't wait!)