Music is powerful. It changes moods. It inspires. It changes lives.

While listening to a podcast, I heard about Andy Ihnatko’s “One Song” project. In that project, he asked his listeners to choose one song and let him know what it is. There was only 1 stipulation – they could only choose ONE.

The concept is simple – by being forced to choose 1 song, he’d be able to compile a list of what people consider to be the best of the best and compile a spotify playlist that anyone can subscribe to.

Then I started to think – What if WE could did something like that, but with a Christian twist?

So, I decided to start an inspirational One Song project.

The process is “simple”:

• Step 1: Think of a song that has helped you along your spiritual journey (please note, you can only choose ONE – so make it GOOD)
• Step 2: Leave a comment below with the name of the song and the name of the artist (Remember, you can only choose ONE)
• Step 3: Share this page with EVERYONE you know (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc)
• Step 4: Subscribe to the Spotify playlist

The hardest part of this process will be choosing just one song. The easy part is to share it. Lets see how big we can get the list, and how many lives can be affected in a positive way as a result.

With this Playlist, we’ll be spreading the Gospel, through song, all over the world using the power of technology.

I will update this page with your songs and reasons regularly.

That’s it. Thanks for Participating!

P.S. if you aren’t on Spotify as yet, I highly recommend for you to get on it. It’s a legal way to listen to music for free.

Song List

1. I never lost my Praise – Leslie Samuel
2. I bowed on my knees - Melody Chambers

As I rushed to bring everything back inside, I thought to myself: AHHH come on, why did the rain have to come and spoil such a beautiful day? Everything was going fine. I even thought about going into town and just walking around in the sunshine. Now the rain had to come and spoil everything. But to my surprise, within about 15 to maybe 20 minutes, the rain stopped, the clouds began to float away, and the sun started shining again. Now, I live in Berrien Springs, Michigan, where that is a common occurrence. But for some reason, today it was more of a blessing than ever.

I started thinking about how life is so much like the weather. One minute, everything can be great, the sun can be shining, you are happy, you feel like God is blessing like never before and things couldn’t get any better. But from one minute to the next, clouds can start coming in, circumstances just seem to come down like the rain and “spoil” what was such a beautiful day, or even a beautiful life.

My experience today showed me something; that someday, the rain will cease, the clouds will start to disappear, and the sun will shine again. You see, the periods of rain happen for a reason. If it wasn’t for the periods of rain (and pardon my biology), the xylem vessels inside plants would not get the necessary water to transport to the rest of the plant, also the necessary minerals would not be transported adequately, the leaves would start to whither, and without these necessities for life, the plant would die.

So, just as in our life, the rain can appear to hamper the sun. But what we don’t see is what is happening on the inside. On the inside, God has placed some “xylem vessels” that respond to the water in the appropriate manner, building us up, giving us strength, building our characters and making us into what God has for us to be. But through all of this, we must keep in mind that the sun will shine again.

Please allow me to take this analogy a little further. When God created the earth, the animals, birds of the air, fish in the sea, plants, and ultimately human beings, He looked at His creation and said: It is good. The earth was perfect, man was created in the image of God and the “sun” was always shining. It was the “perfect day in my room in Germany”. Eventually sin came into play, and since then it has been raining ever since. But the sun will shine again. The songwriter put it best when he said:

And, Lord, haste the day
when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll:
The trump shall resound
and the Lord shall descend,
“Even so”- it is well with my soul.

Talk about sunshine!!

My Bike Story

When i first arrived in Germany in may, I was told that I would be given a bike that I could use to get me around in the little town of Goettingen. I thought that was a nice gesture from the professors here at the Georg August University. When it was time for me to get the bike, the professor here told me that I had two options. I could either take an old female’s bike that was functioning but didn’t look “cool” or I could go to the room in the back where there were some unused bikes that needed fixing and fix one up.

When we went to see the old female’s bike, I thought to myself: “you have got to be kidding” (The picture above shows a bike that’s similar, but a different color). It was this girls bike that people rode many years ago. I could not see myself riding that piece of crap. We then went to the room in the back and there was one bike in particular that caught my fancy. It was this maroon 21-speed mountain bike that looked pretty descent. I said to myself . . . THAT’S THE ONE FOR ME.

So I decided to fix that one up, and since it seemed like it only needed tubes, I would be set within about a half an hour of work. So I put in those tubes, put air in the tires and I was on my way to my guest room. However, I soon realize that this good looking bike was probably not the best decision. There was a problem with the peddling system and if you tried to take it out of the lowest gear, you would run into some serious problems and probably fall in a not so attractive way (while hurting yourself in the process).

There I was, in the lowest gear, peddling 50 times, moving 10 meters. Needless to say it took me a while to reach my destination. I very soon realized that i might have to settle for the old females bike. The next day I got that old female’s bike and I’ve been using it since that day and for the past 3 months, it has taken me everywhere I needed to go in Goettingen. One day, I was riding it and I stopped at a stoplight. There was this Guy next to me. He looked at my bike, then at me, and then he said “koel fahrad”, which in English means “cool bike”. I then replied “Danke schon” with a smile on my face, which means thank you very much, and then we both started laughing.

Now that I look back, I am very grateful for this old female’s bike. It has gotten me were I needed to go, and not only that, but because it was is a bit harder to ride, has made me stronger and more fit.

WHAT’S MY POINT??

Well you see, many times, life is like my old female’s bike experience. We choose success as our destination, and then we choose what we think the best form of transportation to get us there is. We apply for good Jobs, try to get into good schools, and try to get all A’s in our classes. But many times, things don’t work out the way we want them to and we realize that life had other means of transportation in store for us.

Many times we are disappointed, we get discouraged and people might even laugh at us. But whatever your means of transportation, use it to the best of your abilities. You might start off with a low end job, you might not do so well in your classes, but whatever happens, make the best of every situation and be determined to ride that old female’s bike all the way to success. In the end you will look back and see how much stronger you are for taking the path you did and will be even more fit to handle any situation that life brings your way.

This part wasn’t in the original article, but seems fitting . . .

Lets push this story a bit. Sometimes in life, God hands us situations that don’t seem to be the way they should. He hands us “an old female’s bike”.  When we look at the bike we’re handed, we tell God – “You’ve got to be kidding”. We then go for the flashy 21-speed mountain bike, only to fall on our faces. If we’d only realize that the bike we’re handed is the perfect bike for us, designed by the greatest bike designer who ever lived, we’d live much more satisfying lives.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

Let me give a little background first. I’ve been waking up in the morning (at 4:45am – crazy I know) and reading from the Old Testament. Then, I listen to a chapter from the audio version of the book Patriarchs and Prophets. It has been very enlightening. However, there was one thing that really stood out to me, and almost scares me a little bit . . .

It seems like since the beginning of time, God has been hooking us up, and then we turn our backs on Him. When I look at the children of Israel, that’s what I see. He performed some ridiculous miracles to deliver them out of Egypt and what do they do? Build idols, turn their backs from Him, and ask for a human king so that they can be like the other nations. Lets take it a step further (or farther, whichever is grammatically correct – forgive my ignorance).

Then he chooses a King to lead them. He chooses someone that’s so humble, that when they went to announce him as king, he was hiding among the baggage (1 Samuel 10:22). He starts out great, but then ends up turning so far from God that he stopped following God’s instructions, and started taking stuff into his own hands, eventually leading to his destruction.

And their are many examples of this. Here’s the thing. It seems like this is the sequence of things (in many cases) – Someone starts out humble and serving God. God lifts them up. They praise God and Worship him. Somewhere along the line, things get blurry and they forget who got them there in the first place. Often times, this is the result of associating with the “wrong kinds of people”. They turn from God and bad things happen.

My Concern for us today (yes, that includes me)

Today, we live in a time that is unlike any other. Technology has changed the way we do business. TV and the internet has brought out the beast in us (or so it seems). We see movie stars, internet stars, social media rockstars, basketball players and musicians giving us examples of what it is to live the “good life“, where everybody knows your name and you get what you want because of who you are.

It seems as if we are setting people up as little god’s in our lives. Are you not sure as to what I’m talking about? Ok, watch the video below and see how a group of fans responded to Justin Bieber.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoBvqN-2GBo

Now you get it? Yeah, I know. It’s kinda crazy, but with websites like Facebook, Twitter, and especially Youtube, it seems like it’s much easier to become a star today than it has ever been before. Could it be that the devil is trying to get us to focus more on people in these last days? Could it be that he’s even trying to get us to focus on OURSELVES? Does he want us all to be “stars” or to at least have “stars” in our lives that we can focus on?

But here’s where it gets a bit worse. I’m a Christian and a Musician. I LOVE Christian music, and there are a number of recording artists out there who’s music I love. Now, it seems as if what has been happening in the secular world of music is also happening in the Christian world of music. We have our famous musicians that are good at what they do. God has gifted them with musical talent and they share that with the world.

I remember trying to find out how much it costs to get some famous Christian musicians to do concerts. The numbers were astoundingly high, to the tune of anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000. Then you go to these concerts and you see these great people do great music. Just like the secular world, we line up afterwards to buy their CDs, take pictures with them to put on Facebook, and if we are lucky enough, get them to give us their autographs – their writing of their names on a piece of paper that we can take home and cherish because THEY wrote it.

Is this ministry? Is this music ministry? Or is someone setting us up to elevate people to where they shouldn’t be, so that our focused can be taken away from the only one that matters?

So what does this have to do with Committed’s new album?

Committed is an awesome group. Birthed on the campus of Oakwood University, they rose quickly to “stardom” after their appearance on NBC’s “The Sing Off”, and their awesome win. If you haven’t read my first article on Committed, you should go and read Committed won the Sing Off and I hope they read this. It sparked a very interesting debate.

Anyways, they just released their first album and I’m a tad bit confused. Is it a Christian album, a secular album or both? I mean it goes all the way from being in ecstasy tonight with you on the dance floor all night (Song entitled “Forever”) to the good old negro spiritual “Soon ah will be done”. From “It is Well” to “Sweet home Alabama”. If you want to Rock out in ecstasy all night while listening to the album, you can do so, or you can go to church and hear them sing another song from the same album that will give you a glimpse of what heaven will be like.

Click Here to listen to the album for yourself

How should I feel? I’m not sure, but I’m very concerned. Why? Because it’s the same thing I read about in the Bible, and I’ve seen the results of it. God lifts you up, you let the world in, and eventually you end up thinking – “hmm, I’m not too bad”. Then you start thinking – “I’m da bomb!” Then as we loose sight of who brought us to where we are, bad things happen. However, what’s worse is that when these things happen today, it easily influences the world as opposed to the group of people around us.

I’m also concerned for myself

I’m gonna be pretty honest here. As you know (and as I’ve said already), I’m a musician. I play the piano, my wife sings, and we have our music ministry. We’ve done music all over the U.S., have been featured on 3ABN in different ways, we have our online ministry, and a lot has happened. We’ve been in places that put us up in very nice accommodations and treated us like King and Queen.

I also have the online stuff that I do, and it has been gaining traction, getting a lot of exposure, and growing beyond what most people imagine. As a result of that, a lot of stuff is happening in my life.

God is blessing, and it feels good. However, I HAVE TO be cautious not to forget who brought me here, and where the focus NEEDS to be, or else it will be easy to fall into the same trap that so many of us fall into. We’re not immune to temptation. We need to remember that God is still God, and that He’s the only one that’s worthy of our praise.

A great example

I don’t want this blog post to be very negative. There are also great examples in the Bible of people who God lifted up, but they still stayed faithful to him. The one that comes to mind is Joseph, who was brought from slavery all the way to second in command to Pharaoh. However, he remained faithful to God, even in his elevated position.

He was so faithful to God that he didn’t “take advantage” of Potiphar’s wife because he couldn’t do it and sin against God.

May we all seek to do the same, and elevate none other that God in our lives.

What do you think?

I know I’ve kind of been all over the place in this blog post, but I’d like to hear your opinions. What do you think about committed’s success and their brand new album? What do you think about anything I had to say? Let me know below.

Well, let me start by telling you why I THOUGHT they were leaving . . .

Reason number 1: Church is too boring.

According to Eric Schmidt from Google, “Every 48 hours there is more content being produced from the beginning of time to 2003″. Every 20 minutes on facebook, there are over 1 Million links shared, 1.8 Million Status Updates, 2 Million Friend requests accepted, 10 million comments, and 2.7 million photos uploaded. If you need a quick entertainment fix, you can jump on Youtube, Hulu, and other sites and watch videos, movies, tv shows and a bunch of other things (both good and bad).

The technology we’ve come to know and love has made it so that times are changing at an alarming rate, and excitement is only a mouse click away. However, it often seems as if many churches have been stuck back in the early 1900. With everything else changing so quickly, and the church appearing to stay the same, the gap between the way Churches run and the lifestyle that young people are used to is growing ever so wide. This is the main reason why so many of them are leaving the church . . . or so I thought!

Reason number 2: The Church is too Judgmental

Yes, that’s it. You finally make it to church after dealing with some messed up stuff. Life sucks and you know it. You might have been partying like crazy, doing drugs, sippin on some liquor, and yes . . . eating chicken (I know, crazy right?). But then something happened . . . you had an encounter with God in a strange way and finally decide to make a change – This week, yes . . . You are going to Church.

The decision was very hard, but it’s your decision and you’re sticking with it. Or so you thought. You put on the most “churchy” clothes you have, and took the trip. You expected everyone to be praising God that you finally came back after all this time. However, that was not the response. Instead, you get those judgmental stares – you know the ones I’m talking about. Those “What in the world is she wearing?” kind of stares.

You even overheard the deacons saying “She has a nerve to show up here after all that she has been doing“. Even the pastor seemed to judge you, and you know for a fact that he’s cheating on his wife. All in all, it was obvious that you weren’t wanted there, so you resolved within yourself to NEVER go back to church again. You don’t want to go anywhere with those judgmental hypocrites. THAT’S the main reason why so many young people leave the church . . . right? Yeah, I used to think so too.

Reason number 3: The Church isn’t loving

There’s a “Loving Church” experience that happened to me in the past that I always refer to when talking about this topic. Back in 2000, I had a acappella singing group that was invited to go down to Paris, Tennessee to open for an acappella festival (called Acafest) hosted by the world-renown singing group Acappella. This was an awesome experience because I’ve been listening to that group since I was a little boy (which sometimes I feel like I still am, lol).

When we went down there, the experience was amazing, not just because of the awesome music, but because of how LOVING the people were. From the time we got down there, we felt as if we were around family. When it was time to leave, my friend Kirk and I jumped in my ’93 Ford Escort and started driving back to Michigan. As we were driving, we started talking about how great the experience was and how loving the people were. We started missing them already – so much that we decided to turn around and go back just to spend another day in their presence.

If the church was as loving as those people, young people would NEVER want to leave, just like we found it so hard to leave Tennessee. I’ve never had that kind of experience in Churches I’ve been to. Now that MUST be it. That’s why so many young people are leaving! FINALLY. Wait! No, that’s not what God revealed to me a few weeks ago.

So why are so many young people leaving the church?

Every morning for the last few months, I’ve been reading a section in the Bible and then following up by listening to the corresponding section of the audiobook “Patriarchs and Prophets“. I have all of the chapters on my iPhone and I choose the corresponding audio chapter to listen to each day. It has been such an enlightening experience.

As I’ve been looking through the books of the old testament, it amazed me to see how much the stories in the Bible are similar to what is happening today. I started realizing even more that one of the reasons the Bible exists is to help us to learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before us.

Just like today, as the younger generations came up, in MANY cases, they turned their backs on the same God that did so much for them. The same God that lead them out of Slavery and took them to the Promised land. And I think I finally figured out the reason.

Instead of Following GOD, they were following the people who God set in place to lead them to Himself. Instead of focusing on God, they focused on what people like Moses, Joshua, David and the other Patriarchs and Prophets were doing. They were relying on the faith of their parents, kings, judges, and other leaders.

There is an inherent problem there – PEOPLE FAIL. People don’t always act out of love. People are often judgmental. And yes, people are often boring, lol. However, God IS Love. God wants to SAVE us. And yes, God is HILARIOUS.

But here’s the problem . . .

Many young people are growing up not knowing HOW to get to know this God. They don’t know how to study the Bible, and in many situations – they don’t know how to pray. Yes, even the ones who grow up in the church.

How do I know this?

Because I often feel like I don’t know how to get to know this God, or how to study the bible, and even how to pray. I know, I’m not supposed to say that, right? I’ve been in the church for 31 years, and have been teaching in Adventist institutions for the last 5 years. I go around doing music in the name of Jesus Christ, telling people to give their lives to Him. I even try to use the internet to spread that word.

But, I’m still learning, and I have A LOT to learn. Fortunately, my God is so great, that He is leading me. He is teaching me. As imperfect as I am, He is using me.

So how do we fix this?

We need to teach our young people HOW to get to know God, study His word, and Pray, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. One step at a time, one young person at a time. We need to help them realize that they CAN have a relationship of their own with the only one who matters when it comes to our salvation. If THAT is what we focus on, I strongly believe that the other problems will start taking care of themselves (in other words, God will take care of them).

So do we stop trying to fix those other problems I mentioned. Not at all. They are still problems and with God’s help, we can be fixed. However, in this post, I wanted to focus on what I think the CORE issue is. Don’t worry, I’ll get to those other parts. This is just the first in the series

So what do you think?

Do you agree or disagree? Why do you think young people are leaving the church? If you have left the church, why did you do it? I’d Love to hear! Leave a comment below!

In this first episode, I share an experience that happened to my family recently, when my father was hospitalized and sent to the country of Colombia for medical treatment. He was in an induced coma, and things didn’t look good.

Listen to the episode and hear what happened when we praise God. I’m a firm believer that Praising God changes things.

If you have any comments/suggestions, you can leave it below or call the hotline at (888) 835 – 2414.

Blessings!

As many of you might be aware, back in April, my dad was in critical condition and was rushed via air ambulance to Colombia (the country). Uncertain about how things would turn out, I took time off work to head down there to be with my family. I’m not going to go into all the details about that in this post, but to make a very long story extremely short, the Lord worked some tremendous miracles and his recovery was faster than could be expected.

While in Colombia, one of my main duties was to help him with Physical Therapy. While he was in an induced coma, and when he came out of the coma, I was the one exercising him to help him regain his strength (he was virtually paralyzed). In the process, my mom, my aunt and I had a recurring conversation that went something like this – Them: You know Leslie, you would make a great Physical Therapist. Have you ever considered doing that? Me: Yes, I did. However, I knew that God wanted me to teach.

Fast Forward . . .

After a month of being in the Beautiful country of Colombia, I headed back home to Cedar Lake. When I arrived, there was a letter in our mailbox inviting me to apply to teach in the Physical Therapy program at Andrews University. If accepted, I would teach Anatomy, Neuroscience, Pathophysiology, in addition to being the Foundations Science Coordinator for the department.

When I read the letter, I was immediately dumbfounded. Why did I receive it? I do I have a Physical Therapy background. Would they even consider me to teach in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program? It just sounded crazy. But then my mind went back to the frequent discussions I had with my family in Colombia and I couldn’t help but think that God was working behind the scenes to do something amazing.

So I went ahead and submitted my application. . .

I’m going to skip over some details here (just so that this doesn’t end up being a novel), but just know that there were a lot of miracles that happened along the way. Here are a few of the highlights.

• I was advised to make a trip down to Andrews to meet with the chair of the department.
• I did so, and we had a nice conversation.
• I showed him my biology website and he was extremely impressed.
• If I didn’t make the trip down to Andrews, they wouldn’t have considered me for the position.
• After looking at what I was doing online, they decided to interview me.
• I came down for an interview, sat at the head of a conference table and was grilled (in a good way) by 8 faculty members
• At the end of the interview, I was the unanimous choice of the committee out of 30+ applicants (even physical therapists).
• I’m being hired as Associate Professor in the Physical Therapy Department of Andrews University. One of the top programs in the nation.

Why am I writing this blog post? For a number of reasons:

• Reason #1. To show the world that with God All things are possible. I’m living proof that God does not call the qualified. He Qualifies the called.
• Reason #2. To show the world that He is in complete control. There are too many things that happened in my situation that would seem “coincidental”, but aren’t. Why did I all of a sudden feel the urge to start recording videos and putting them on my website regularly in January? I had been at GLAA for over 4 years. But it happened at the right time. Having the experience with my dad also reinforced this fact in my mind.
• Reason #3. To update everyone on what’s happening in our lives.
• Reason #4. To send a message to all of my students, colleagues, friends and family at GLAA. That deserves it’s own section. So lets get into that now.

A Message to everyone at GLAA

Wow, where do I begin. I’ve been at GLAA for 5 years now, and it has been an awesome experience. Yes, it has it’s ups and downs, but the biggest “ups” involved being able to interact with all of you. You’ve taught us so much, and we will definitely miss you guys.

I wish that this happened sooner, so that we could say goodbye in person, as opposed to over the internet, and then broadcasting it on Facebook, lol. But hey, this is what we have for now, and we believe that everything happens for a reason.

We love you guys, and we WILL miss you guys. Thank you for everything!

To my Senior Class (since I would’ve been senior class sponsor this upcoming year) . . .

We’ve had some great times, and I look forward to hearing awesome things happening in your lives. You are going to be the leaders next year. Make me proud. No, forget that. Make GOD proud. He has so much in store for you that you can’t even imagine.

What will Marguerite (Mrs. Samuel) do?

For the last few years, Marguerite has been working on a Master’s Degree in Choral conducting during the summers. Starting in the fall, she will be able to work on finishing her degree throughout the year, which is great because she can get it over with. Who knows? It’s possible that we’ll have some little Marguerites and Leslies running around sometime in the near future. But don’t get to excited, that’s not happening quite yet

Everything is just falling in place, and we’re praising God for all that He’s doing in our lives.

Make sure to stay in touch. We’ll be on Facebook. Don’t forget about us. Send us messages every once in a while

We’ll make sure to visit once in a while.

LOVE YOU ALL!!

- Leslie Samuel

Our Facebook Pages

• Leslie Samuel’s Facebook
• Marguerite Samuel’s Facebook

At some point, we found an interview that Committed did with Entertainment Weekly. One in which they were pretty open about their religious beliefs. I want to highlight a few of their answers here because I was excited about some of the things they had to say. You can read the entire interview here. So lets get to the points I thought were interesting:

EW: What do you think was the toughest part of the competition for you all?

GESTON PIERRE: Well, we are Seventh-day Adventists, and we don’t do any work from Friday night sundown until Saturday night. That was a challenge for us because we had to take Sabbaths off, and as a result, we ended up behind, so we would have to catch up, basically. We’d spend countless hours — sometimes up until 4 a.m. Sunday and then we’d roll up for 8 a.m. rehearsal [the same] Sunday morning, so it was a lot of hard work, but we stood up for our beliefs, and we actually benefited from that day of rest. It was a privilege to have some time off because the realities of reality television are rigorous and scheduled, so it was nice to have our Sabbaths off.

EW: Your faith was something I think a lot of people admired about you all, and the producers weren’t shy about labeling you as the “church boys” or the guys making “heavenly harmonies” every week. What did you all think of having that label so prominently attached to your group?

THERRY THOMAS: I really didn’t mind it. I’m not ashamed to tell you that I’m a Christian or anything, so it was actually an honor that they put us in that category.

EW: Was there ever any tension about what songs you would sing, or what songs you might not want to represent because of your faith?

THERRY THOMAS: Well, for us, the most compromising one was the Usher medley. We took a risk and we did it. We don’t want to put any bad light on Christians. Probably if we went back and tried to do it again, we probably would have chosen something else. We’re not perfect. We mess up sometimes, but we just keep striving, just keep pushing forward, and can’t really look back. We don’t have any regrets, but if we could change anything, we would.

Now, I don’t know what your feelings about Committed are, but I must say that I was proud of how they answered those questions. Note the following:

• They were open about being Seventh-day Adventists and their belief in the Sabbath.
• They took Sabbaths off and faced challenges as a result.
• They aren’t ashamed to claim Christianity.
• They acknowledge the fact that they have made mistakes, but are striving forward.

Congratulations Committed for standing up for what you believe in. Regardless of what people think, people are hearing about God and are seeing that Christians are real people who face real challenges. We fall down, but we get up. A saint is just a sinner who fell down, and got up. My prayers are with you!

Sooooo, what do YOU think about what Committed had to say? Let me know in the comments below

Committed with the winning trophy

For part 2, I would like to start with something that the Late E.E. Cleveland used to say:

While reading through the almost 50 comments (and counting), there seems to be three categories of responses:

• Category 1: Those who are VERY excited for Committed and can’t wait to see what will come next.
• Category 2: Those who are excited for Committed, but also concerned about the potential for it to go in the wrong direction.
• Category 3: Those who condemn Committed for what they’ve done and think they should Run away from Sony like a mouse running from a Lion!

When I wrote the post, my intention was definitely NOT to condemn or judge Committed.

I consider myself to be in the second Category described above. I’m excited for them, but also concerned. You know – it’s EASY to look at people who are in the limelight and judge their actions.

The big difference between “famous Christians” (if you know what I mean) and the rest of US (including myself) is this – EVERYONE sees what the famous folk do! Fortunately for us, the rest of the world doesn’t see the way we treat our families, the drink we take when no one is looking, what we do in our bedrooms when no one else is around, and many of the thoughts we have never come to light. In many ways, I feel sorry for famous people.

So Why did I write it then?

That is a valid question. I mean really. Why not write about the so many other situations that are happening in the world today? I’m going to answer that question this way.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of playing the piano at the Cedar Lake SDA Church. That day, I woke up early (as I usually do), spent time with God (as I usually do) and asked Him to use me that day. I told Him to take my fingers and use them to play the chord progressions that would glorify Him and cause people to be drawn to him.

My experience that day, while playing the piano was one that I can only attribute to God. I felt Him moving in me, showing me what to play and when. At the end of the service, I was lead to play a song that to me, speaks to what it should be about in these last days. Here’s the chorus:

I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about You
It’s all about You, Jesus

Music is a Powerful, Potent force – One that I STRONGLY believe will play a HUGE part in ushering in the second coming of Jesus. It can help to sooth an aching heart, tame a wild person, and lift someone out of depression. That’s the GIFT of music that God has Given to us all.

So why did I write it? – I think that they are in a prime position right now, regardless of any mistakes that might have been made, and I want to see them use what God has given them to Glorify HIM. With their talent, they can make music that lifts people all the way up to the throne of grace.

There was one comment that I would like to highlight. It was left by a good friend of mine – Matthew Harris. He’s a fellow musician with big dreams, and he takes action towards meeting his goals. Here’s some of what he had to say.

When I read that comment, it REALLY resonated with me. Maybe because I’ve been in situations where my I’ve played piano in church and have been criticized for “the way I played”, which wasn’t “holy enough” for some of the Christian Critics out there. OBVIOUSLY, the world would be more than happy to take them in. They Rock. But their potential is so much greater.

Lets try to make the church more welcoming than the world,

So, with all of that said, here’s my request, and it goes beyond Committed:

As I’ve said, music is powerful. We need to pray for our musicians, from Committed to the church pianist, the Singer to the Songwriter. Lets pray that we all use the gifts God has Given us to lift HIM up and that God fills us all with so much of the Holy Spirit that when we sing, play, and worship, the devil will have to flee.

As for Committed, there are A LOT of eyes on them right now, as is evident from the response to my first post. Lets keep them in prayer, that God’s will be done in their lives. Let me know if you will join me in that below in the comments.

I’ll end this post with my prayer for Committed:

Can you believe it? I can. From the first time I heard them, I said to myself that they would win. Their harmonies were tight, and they vocally orchestrated their songs in a way that brought a new flavor to some of the hits that so many people hold dear to their hearts. I, and so many other Adventists out there, am very proud of their accomplishments.

However, this pride also comes with a significant amount of fear. Why? I’m glad you asked . . .

It’s quite simple. The music industry (especially in America) has, in many ways, grown to be a very corrupt industry that revolves around money, power, and everything else that elevates self. When you look at all of those “superstars” out there like P. Diddy, Snoop, Eminem, Jay Z, Beyonce, and so many others, it seems like being a successful musician (in the world) leaves little, if any, room for worshipping any God besides yourself.

Take the following album for example where Jay Z is referred to “Jayhovah, the God M.C.”.

The God M.C.

My level of concern was increased when I watched the episode when Committed did the Usher Remix. As usual, it was a stellar performance, including the song “Make Love in this Club”. Here’s the thing. I know that at this point, Committed no longer decided what songs they would be singing. The songs were chosen by the judges. I do understand that.

However, I think this is a preview of what COULD happen to Committed IF they don’t stay Committed.

After listening to that song here were some of the Comments that were made by the judges:

Shawn – “…and I seen some movements that uhh . . . I see y’all church boys. I see you”.

Nicole – “They are called committed for a reason. That was the Holy Spirit moving through them”
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You can see exactly what I’m talking about in the following Video:

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The “Holy Spirit” moving through them, causing them to sing and dance to “I wanna make love in the club”? Does anyone else see a problem with this? This is a blatant mockery of who God is and what I believe Committed is trying to accomplish.

Here’s the thing . . . I’m not judging what they are doing, and I’m excited for the opportunity that they have. Nor am I saying that this is definitely where Committed is heading. I pray that it isn’t. However when it gets to this level, it seems like you move where and HOW the money says you need to move.

With $100,000 in cash and a Sony recording Contract, it becomes increasingly harder to say “No, I can’t do that, because it compromises my Christian values”.

So committed . . . my message to you is simple . . . PLEASE BE CAREFUL! We see your success and are excited about the possibilities. However, the devil also sees your success, and I think he might be excited too. With the level of influence that you have, the devil will want to use your success for his own God. Be determined to use it to lift up Christ, not the devil.

You started as a group that was committed to show your creativity and LOVE FOR GOD. Try to keep it that way. I will be praying for you. Music is such a powerful thing and the devil knows that more than anyone else. He will be after you like nobody’s business.

Committed singing "Lets Stay Together"

What do YOU think?

So what do you think about the big win? Excited? Concerned? Afraid? Share your thoughts with me below. I’d LOVE to hear them