http://www.midvalebaptist.org

They gave me permission to post it here so here it is.

www.newcolumbusbaptist.org

The image on the top left is their symbol and the bottom image is the logo obviously.  Feel free to pass the word along about my stuff because this kind of thing is great for my resume’ and it helps me financially.

It has also be soo honkin much fun. These kids are great and I love playing with them. It has been so much fun playing these classic outdoor/gym games that I haven’t played in years. Even though these kids are our little angels… BOY, They can be boneheads sometimes!! Whenever I get on to them though, I sound more and more like my dad. I have also, since being here, developed the perfect punishment… MuuaaaAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA

I make them run…

It really works too.  I don’t yell and I don’t make idle threats. It works wonderfully.

This whole trip so far has been really fun. Keep praying for me and if you wanna see some pics then go to facebook.com/mattleckie

God is teaching me a lot and I am having a ton of fun.

Anyways, I got a job as a summer missionary in Madison Wisconsin for the entire summer. I leave on the 8th of June and don’t come back until August 10th.

So yeah, I’m asking y’all (yes I just said y’all) to pray for me as I go. Pray specifically for the kids that we will be reaching because the kids that we will be reaching out too will be kids with no church background at all. We will also be doing a college ministry too.

I am so pumped but I’m nervous too. So yeah, pray for me and that God will do some honkin legit stuff while I’m up there!

What caught my eye about the couple was their completely opposite reactions to what the pastor was saying.

The pastor was preaching about a topic that is not always a fun topic to have to preach about: Money. He was giving the church a challenge to raise a certain amount of money to fund a certain missions program.

Again, the reactions of this couple were total opposites:

Pardon the crudeness of the drawing but this was the reaction.

The woman was wide eyed with a look of joy in her eye as she nodded her head to everything that the pastor said. She looked as if she were ready write a check on the spot.

The man, however, look suspicious and almost offended by the fact that the pastor was even suggesting such a thing. He looked as if he were saying “Waaiitt a minute! What’s the big idea?”

Now, I dont know if this is what was actually going through thier minds but it was enough to make me laugh. It kind of reminded too that when reaching a couple or family, if you can reach the head of the household it won’t be as hard to reach the rest of the family.

Can one really limit worship to a single genre of music?

Is this worship genre that was generated in the 70s really the sacred and only way to worship God?

A good place to find out these things is called the Bible.

“David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.” 2 Samuel 6:5

“Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing , praise him with strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals , praise him with the resounding cymbals.” Psalms 150: 3-6

Nowhere in either of those lists did I hear an organ.

What God wants is for us to be genuine. He wants us to present him with our best. Genres are a stupid thing to start getting picky about.

Worship cannot even be limited to music so how in the world can we limit it to a single genre of music.

If one were to sing Amazing Grace like it was a heavy metal screaming song, would it lose it’s title as worship?

Would the fact that one decided to rap or scream this song cause it to be a Satan worshiping song? No. What makes the song worship? The organ in the background? Of course not. It’s the lyrics and the fact that you are humbling yourself before God and proclaiming his glory.

Psalms 100:1 says “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.”

If you ask me, this verse makes screamo more biblical the traditional way anyways…

You see when you are in college and have a lot going on such as work, school, keeping up with LOST etc. it is easy to get lost in the shuffle. I for instance have been pressing forward working my tail end off.

The other day in fact, I was busy the entire day because I single-handedly saved a group of children that were all in a bus that some how ended up teetering on the top of a building down town. Yeah it was difficult and there was a lot people trying to keep me from doing it but it was my civic duty. They were telling me not to do it but I kept telling them “it’s for the kids!” Nothing can keep me from do what I know to be right.

President Obama called me recently asking if he could honor my actions publicly at a ceremony but due to my extreme modesty I turned him down. I did join him for a cabinet meeting and tried help him sort out many of his screwed up policies. I’ve sort of had to lay low to keep the people of Oklahoma from flocking to me asking for autographs and what not. I just want to live a humble relaxed life without all the press and media looking at me so I just decided to chill.

So yeah, my life has been pretty crazy lately so that’s why I haven’t posted anything new lately. What with Obama always wanting to hang out and all the media and parents wanting me to kiss their babies heads I’ve been swamped.

Actually…

All have done is school and work so I haven’t had a lot to talk about.

So yeah, Sorry about that. I’ll be working on being more frequent with posting things in the future.

Take it out your pocket and show it

Then throw it

This a way, This a way

This a way, this a way”

– Lil Wayne

“You got money you got paper

so what who cares?

You got money you got paper

I got Jesus baby!”

– Lecrae

This is why Lecrae is better than Lil’ Wayne.

The premise of Lil’ Wayne’s song “Got Money” is pretty much a self focused song of him bragging about the fact that he has money and can get any shallow skanky hootchie mama that walks past him.

This ultimately shows Lil’ Wayne for his true colors (as if any other song of his don’t).

On the contrary, Lecrae comes in with his song “Got Paper” and pretty much shows why Lecrae is a much better guy and rapper. He comes in and straight up tells you why living the players life is jacked up and how Jesus is the ultimate source of happiness.

Anybody can rap about crap. Next to no thought has to come in to play when one raps about that. However, it is much harder to put legit lyrics like Lecrae’ has in his song. While the chorus is pretty simple the verses of his songs are awesome!

For example, In his song Take Me As I Am, he shares how he came to Christ:

“It’s 5:46 in the mornin’, tossin’ and turnin’
Chest burnin’, sermons in my head keep reocurrin’
Havin’ visions in my head of a kid
Cryin’ at the feet of the Father, for all the wrong things that he did
Now I’m sweatin’ in my sheets can’t sleep
My mind keeps tellin’ me I’m six feet deep
Don’t remind me, even though I’m still alive I can’t tell
The way I’m living my life I feel I’m going to hell
God they telling me I should accept you
That you had to leave the world, cause the world left you
Reason I can’t change, like a mystery to me
So I make believe there really is a heaven for a G
Even though they say you loved the world so much, you shed ya blood
God I feel I’m too messed up for love
They tell me come as I am but I smell like smoke
My whole lifes full of sin cause it’s all I know
The bible told me that you died for my sins
If I believe in Christ, it’ll save me from the end
But I’m scared to ask you, to save me my heart
So evil, I got thoughts, that’s full of hatred hurtin’ people
I thought at first I had to clean up my life
Now I’m hearin’ I just need to cling to the light
I’m ready to do it, but Lord I pray you understand
My life is a mess, will you take me as I am”

- Lecrae

It is also cool how he hasn’t fallen into the style of a lot of other Christian rappers such as Tobymac by not even sounding like real rap. The quality of the sound of his songs (especially in the album Rebel) is equivalent to the beat and sound of Lil’ Wayne’s songs.

This is why Lecrae owns Lil’ Wayne. With Lil’ Wayne lacking lyrically and morally, Lecrae surpasses him overall as a better rapper.

…he could probably even beat Lil’ Wayne in fight… just sayin…

Music has very much become my passion. I have music for any mood I may be in. During football season I had music that would pump me up. When I was just sad and felt like being pitiful I would just crank some “Fix You” by Coldplay. It really doesn’t matter what’s going down, I have music for it.

With that said it is very clear that music has a big influence on me. Because I am human, I screw up. I make mistakes or I just feel insecure and emo (just kidding about emo). Over time I have noticed the lyrics in certain songs that are screaming that there are other people that have been through the same thing. Twenty-four songs on my iPod have come together to make an all around beastly playlist…

The title: Into Black.

Completely based on the Disciple lyrics written above. I have found myself listening to this playlist often and honestly it has helped me out a lot. I strongly suggest checking it out:

• Falls Apart by Thousand Foot Krutch
• Face Down by Family Force 5
• Stories by Tobymac
• Take Me as I Am by Lecrae
• This is a Call by Thousand Foot Krutch
• Into Black by Disciple
• Take You Back by Jeremy Camp
• Suddenly by Tobymac
• No Giving Up by Crossfade
• Set Me Free by Casting Crowns
• What If I Stumble by DC Talk
• Look What You’ve Done by Tree 63
• One More Time by Disciple
• Simply by Pillar
• After the World by Disciple
• God Will Take Care of You by Plumb
• Troubled Heart by Kutless
• It Can’t Rain Everyday by P.O.D.
• Desperate by Lecrae
• Still We Rise by Preachaholics
• Under The Blood by Preachaholics
• Back Again by Disciple
• Whatever Reason by Disciple
• Walking Away by Mat Kearney

Be aware though that this list consists of various different genres including rap, regular and hard rock. Feel free to tell me more songs to add that you believe fits the purpose of  this playlist!

First off, as soon as ANYTHING in your life jumps ahead of God in regards to importance you are heading for disaster. The band Thousand Foot Krutch puts it best in their song “Falls Apart” :

“It falls, apart, from the very start, it falls apart, seems like everything i touch, falls apart, everything around me, falls apart, when i walk away from you.”

Every time I start to drift from God my life seems to get more and more difficult.

Knowing this, Dani and I decided to take a day and completely set it aside to focus on Christ. This meant no talking or texting facebooking etc. with each other for that whole day.

Though it was tough to go without talking to Dani, that day was incredibly refreshing and it really brought me closer to Christ. I mean, he gave his life so that I could be here. The least I could do was give him a focus day.

It always blows me away how God can make something like “not talking to your girlfriend for a day” and will completely glorify himself with it.

I pray in the future that I will never hesitate to give anything up in order that I may glorify him.