Painting in Black

What a sweet and moving night we had last Wednesday at our Ash Wednesday service. This video really says it all...

Painting in Black

Beginning today, February 22nd, Christians all over the world will enter a season called Lent. It's a season that Christians have participated in for thousands of years.

Lent comes from Latin, and it just means 40. It’s when we celebrate and participate in the story of Jesus’ entering into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. It is a way for Jesus followers to prepare their hearts and minds for Easter.

And it all begins on Ash Wednesday.

Throughout the Bible, ashes are a symbol for mourning. After all, the first humans were created from dirt, and to dirt we will return.

Ashes remind us of our frailness; of our humanity. God wants His people to hope, but he also wants His people to be brutally honest about life, because God knows us. God knows that we try to trick ourselves into believing that death isn’t going to happen to us, but the symbol of ashes is a powerful reminder of our weakness, morally and physically.

We are broken creatures, and the ash reminds us of what we tend to forget.

We live under the shadow of death, and the grave will not be denied.

Yes, God can and will bring beauty from the ashes, but we must be honest and call our brokenness, and the brokenness of the world, by name.

Join us tonight, February 22nd, as Highland participates in Ash Wednesday, 7 pm in the Highland Auditorium.

Brandon and the worship team will lead us in worship, Jack and Jill Maxwell will be interpreting the message through art, and Greg Straughn will play cello as we enter a time of meditation and prayer stations.

ACU Sing Song

1991 Sing Song Hosts

This weekend is ACU Sing Song- a weekend that brings thousands of people to town. Sing Song is full of memories for me. I directed my fraternity to victory my senior year, but my favorite memory is being a host my junior year with some of my best friends. Stephen Bailey, Val Durrington, Darcy L. Chapman, Martha Kate Stallings Gunn, Kristin Ward and Kimberly Conder. What a total BLAST that was! My father was really ill with cancer but came to the show and my solo was a song about a boy and his dad that I dedicated to him. Very emotional for me. I'll never forget that experience. This weekend my family will get to enjoy the show (because of distance, my kids have only seen one SIng Song) and I'll judge vocals Saturday night. I'm excited we get to be around now for these types of things at ACU and will surely have tears in my eyes as I hear 5000 people join together at the end of the evening in singing "The Lord Bless You and Keep You"...an ACU tradition.

Freshmen Class Sing Song act 1989--Eyeballs!
Wendy Wray Ogren, Amy Nichols Boone, Nino Elliott, me, Stephen Bailey and Patrice N. Powell

Gamma Sigs 1992 "Doctors and Surgeons"
winner, men's division
(that's me in the red...looking completely insane)

Daddy Daughter Valentine's Dance

Last night over 170 people came out for the annual Daddy/Daughter Valentine's Dance at Highland. We've heard so much about this over the years. It was so fun to get to be there and be a part of it all! Thanks to our children's ministry team who made this happen!

Dinner was yummy!

Matt Cope (Mike's son) and his lovely daughter Reese

Jonathan Storment (our preaching minister) and his lovely daughter Eden

My life long friend Kyle Dickson and his sweet daughter Chloe

Jim Miller (husband to Kellie Curtis Miller) and their daughter Abbie

Grant and Anna Claire Boone

Jason and Katie Blair

Bill, Jane Ann and Molly Carroll

Homer and Hannah Hillis

Let the dancing begin!!

"YMCA!"

I LOVE this priceless picture of my good buddy Kevin Roberts. Oh my, yes!

The Roberts, Thomas and Boone daughters went to Starbucks for an after-party! :)

My sweet and beautiful Maddie. How is she this old???

He's My Dad

Yesterday morning I was running like crazy getting kids to school, taking Maddie to the orthodontist, running home to pick up Sam's forgotten lunch, worrying about orthodontist bills, and running Maddie back to school. After signing her back in I was leaving the school office a little frazzled and came face to face with the picture of my father on the wall (at Sam Thomas Elementary--named for my dad).

I stopped in my tracks. It literally took my breath away and caught me completely off guard. I cant even adequately describe what I felt in that moment. With all the hype of having a school named for my dad sometimes even the name is easier to associate with my kids' school than with my dad who played ball with me, held my hand, picked me up when I fell down, loved watching scary movies with me, played one million practical jokes on me, and loved me...to the core. I came face to face with those eyes--those eyes that always seemed to dance a little and laugh whether he was actually laughing or not. I saw that sly smile...a smile I so fully remembered and I was undone, So unexpectedly. Undone. I miss him, still, and cannot believe we actually get to send our kids to school there! He's my dad! What a dream!

As I was driving away, a spiritual epiphany hit me. Sometimes I do the same thing with God. It's easy to get wrapped up in churchy stuff, the initiatives of church, programming, meetings, the facility...and forget how personal this relationship is. He's my Dad! Thank you, Abba!

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. 
~C. S. Lewis

We are thrilled to announce that The ZOE Group has completed a time of transition and is ready to jump into 2012!

As The ZOE Group is relaunching, we hope that you’ll join our mission to reach others with a passion for worship. You can do that by sharing this site with your friends and family, by “liking” us on Facebook, by purchasing CDs and folios, by donating to the ministry, and by praying for us!

For a limited time, we are offering sales on available CDs and folios in the ONLINE ZOE STORE so you can complete your ZOE music library. Pricing for the CDs is from $5 to $8, and all music folios are $5. Be sure to take advantage of these great prices! We have limited inventory on some of these items.

Check back on this site often for the latest ZOE news and upcoming events. We are so grateful for your support and look forward to many more years of sharing great worship experiences!

I am personally extremely excited about our new ZOE Board! We have a wealth of gifted and passionate people serving in this ministry! Our new board and directors consists of Geof Vickers (our most awesome attorney), Jeff Berry (VP of Centricity Records who also ran a worship related non-profit for many years), Laura Troup (former publicist for Thomas Nelson Publishing working with many authors including Donald Miller), Mike Cope (speaker and Pepperdine Lectures Director), Josh Graves (preaching minister at Otter Creek Church), Kent Bogle (international man of mystery. Just kidding--but seriously. :) Kent owns 8 different companies all over the world and has a passion for worship and ZOE in particular.) Randy Gill (Randy has written or arranged many of our songs and will now be the acting board president). 


Directors include Jason McArthur (VP of Provident Record Label Group and singer with ZOE), Amy Westerman (ZOE singer), Kevin Penna (ZOE singer), Melissa Kirby (ZOE singer) and me.


Here's to a brand new day! I am so, so, so, SO pumped and so very grateful to be past these last couple of years of struggle to get here. Thank you, GOD!