A sunset scene

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Greatness In You

There is greatness in you put in place by God, glimpsed, hinted at and alluded to by others, that can only come to full fruition, maturation, and realization when you fully expose, acknowledge, utilize, and embrace these gifts yourself, and once unlocked we all will be blessed.

Dr. Henry Panion III: Freedom of the Soul: The Negro Spiritual

(picture from http://homepage.mac.com/hpanion/henrypanion/index.html) 

Here is a link after the jump below to a story/interview I enjoyed featuring Dr. Henry Panion III from CBS 42 Birmingham, AL discussing the tradition of The Negro Spiritual and his work creating Classical arrangements of the same To quote Dr. Panion, "Please enjoy this recent interview I gave to Sherri Jackson of CBS 42 on the historical and cultural significance of the negro spiritual."

Stopped on the way home to take a picture.

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Body and Soul The Book

Here is a great book that blessed me by two mighty men of God. Rev. Dr. W. Darin Moore is a highly gifted and renowned teacher and preacher of the Word and the Pastor of the wonderful Greater Centennial AME Zion Church in Mt. Vernon, NY (my church home for 9 years) who I am blessed to count as a friend and as my father in ministry. Dr. Merville Marshall is an acclaimed educator, Endocrinologist (founder of the Endocrine Institute in White Plains, NY) who was featured on Discovery Health's Mystery Diagnosis and The Montell Williams Show who I am also blessed to count as a friend. The picture above links to the book's website and below is text from the same site.

Perspective and Expectations

I just recently went to the dentist. Even though I had lapsed on my visits I received a clean bill of health other than one filling that needed replacing, done by my childhood family dentist Dr. Jones, that was older than our adult children and had cracked since my last dentist visit.

Dr. Jones was my dentist from as long as I could remember right up until I left Albany years ago. Ridiculously nice guy, and that is saying something considering how many fillings I received from him. I have so much metal in my mouth that I can pick up Seattle morning radio on a clear day.... Aaand back to our regularly scheduled program. From childhood through college I used to look up at him from the chair and think he was a giant of a man. Must be at least 6'4" or so I thought. Over the years I grew, but my perception of his towering presence remained.

Lola Godheld - Studio [Snippet] Prod. By Victizzle

UK Gospel. Nothing to add. Take a listen.

http://www.lolagodheld.com/

Great set of ministry tools available from Upper Room Technologies

Networking is an interesting contact sport. I had a pleasant conversation with a co-worker named Mark one day where I was sharing some thoughts I had about creating low cost computer labs for churches and non-profits using the free Linux OS Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/) and he was nice enough to listen. I also shared the further suggestion of Durham entrepreneur Denise Tawwab (http://bus23.com/ and http://ncconnected.org) that training youth in these skills should be folded in. At the end of our conversation Mark calmly states "You should talk to my brother. He has a ministry technology firm and works with Max Lucado." After a pause I lifted my chin off of the floor. Fast forward to later that week and I received a call from Mark's brother Andy, CEO of Upper Room Technologies (http://uroomtech.com/). Even though I was quick to point out that I was not sure Long's Memorial was ready to fully take advantage of such tools Andy was not fazed and went on to share his vision of technology and ministry. His time spent with a new Pastor was much appreciated. Since that conversation I have spoken with other very friendly and helpful staff at Upper Room Technologies like Desmond, the Ministry Development Officer at Upper Room Technologies. Here is what I learned: 

Marjane' Official Get Your Breakthrough Video

Love this song www.marjanemusic.com. The horns in the background are like an added bonus.

Official Kirk Franklin I Smile Lyric Video

This song makes me smile. Mission accomplished.

Download Onitsha's 10 track mixtape "LOVE, ONITSHA" for free.

This a good week. Yet another great album available for download, "Love, Onitsha" from... well Onitsha. Anyhoo I have @MontriaAnderson to thank for the heads up. I went and listened to it immediately. My personal favorite at the moment is "Holding Me Down". What can I say, inside me is an old hip hop head trying to get out. A two-fer win-win week after LAW.


Here is a video with the link to the download from bandcamp.com after the jump:



Now the download:

Two artists from Lion Force Records

A favorite pastime of mine is surfing for artists I have not heard of before. Every once in a while I trip over a motherlode find and Lion Force Records falls in to this category. They have an excellent group of talent and two I lift up here are LAW and Michael Burroughs.

This is a free download 19 track album that blesses me every time I listen to it. A gifted young man from CA named LAW of Lion Force Records.

Profane vs. Profound: Another Random Neural Firing

It seems the profane is confused with the profound at times. The former gets peoples attention, but requires little thought, talent, or tact. The latter requires all three in abundance but often goes ignored.

-ELW

Jawn Murray Presents... Untapped

Below is a video announcment of a Jawn Muuray and EMI Gospel opportunity for unsigned artists I happened upon called Untapped. Looks like it might be a good fit for some. The official rules can be downloaded here (click on the zip file icon to download the document):
http://untapped.emigospel.com/promote/?id=1833179
Much success to you.
God bless,
Eric

Taking in the view

While running through the regular daily to dos last week I stopped to take in the beauty of the morning...

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Breakthrough

Breakthrough, Merriam-Webster 2: an act or instance of breaking through an obstacle. - We may have been searching high and wide for external obstacles impeding the path forward and may have made it through a few, but perhaps the obstacle blocking our path through is we ourselves.

I find it interesting that breakthrough begins with the word “break”. What in us must be broken first in order for us to proceed on through?

-Doubt

-Envy

-Fear

-Greed

-Fill in struggle of your choice here

The Great Commission

His blood was shed; Flowed a crimson red; Do not be misled; For you and I He bled; He’s risen, not dead; King’s crown on head; By His Word I am fed; By His Spirit I am led; Demons have hid and fled; Commune by wine and bread; Then run like a thoroughbred; No matter what may be said; Good news I will go and spread.

A Proper Application Process/RNF

Years ago a friend looked at my resume and asked how I found jobs at so many well known companies. My answer was simple. I never applied to a position at a company I did not want to work for. I could not help, but end up in places where I wanted to be. I woke up one day years ago to realize that I applied that to my professional life, but not my personal life. I expended more effort and did more research when seeking a job than when I made personal decisions. My professional resume was doing well, but my personal resume much less so. That had to change. Once I learned to stop looking for success where there was no success to be found the quality of my life improved greatly.

Emotion vs. Compassion RNF

Due to my demeanor, tone, and propensity for echoing the phrase “That is not logical.” with no sense of irony I was referred to as Spock more than once in my youth. As I did then I offer that compassion is a central requirement for a rational conclusion, but fleeting emotions have no place. Emotion will often (admittedly not always) lead to a detachment from our better mental faculties which can lead to conjuring up solutions to long term issues with a short term perspective.

Know The Source

Sermon was from Psalm 23 on yesterday, with special emphasis on v1 “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” and v5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”

When I was a child I only went trick or treating once. There was no deep or profound spiritual reasoning behind it. It just did not make sense to me. I was not one to do what others did just because every one else was doing it if it did not make sense to me.  My parents had a stash of candy that ran deep and was of the best quality. All of my favorite candy in abundance was at home. Also this was a time when there were reports every year of people putting all manner of dangerous materials in their candy. So while I was was out in the cold (I grew up in Albany, NY) the thought hit me, why am I out here going door to door begging for candy that at best is not as good as what I have in my warm home and at worst could cause me harm? I hung up my vampire cape and plastic teeth and that was pretty much it for me. I was the official Woods Halloween greeter/candy distributor after that with all the candy I could ever want at my disposal. I knew where my source was.

First read the tag on the tree (Today’s RNF - Random Neural Firing)

Trusting everyone blindly without first verifying what manner of fruit they bring often results in disappointment and unnecessary hurt. Going to Lowes hoping to get a pear tree while not taking the time to check the tags, thinking “that is a fine looking tree, it must bear pears”, bringing it home planting it in your yard, nurturing it, watering it, tending to it, even talking to it at great length may very well net you nothing but lemons no matter how well you treated it. Not the trees fault, they were labeled properly all along. Dole out respect and the love of Christ and reward trust to those who over time show that they bear good fruit.

ELW

Techie Random Neural Firing Leads To A Sermon

Had written my Sermon for Sunday coming out of Mark 7 and printed it out Saturday night when I went back to my most recent geek diversion which is finding the ultimate dual boot set up for Windows 7 and Ubuntu/Linux on my netbook through trial and error. These things amuse me. What can I say. Due to a tactical misstep (modifying BIOS whilst in the middle of a three kid conversation with one playing xbox for that extra bit of distraction) I effectively beheaded my netbook and I had to reinstall Windows. Well here is the thing, duting the course of the day I had read the directions from the maker, HP, that instructed me essentially that:

1. This would take time, but I was not told how much.
2. Let the reinstall run it’s course.
3. Do not mettle.

Losing by seeking only to win.

My father taught me that in relationships when the main goal of each individual is winning everyone loses. He was referring to marriage, but it holds true beyond that. When I read stories and watch the news (as much as I can stand in one sitting anyway) I see politicians, pundits, and talking heads bent on winning whatever argument they came prepared to defend with little consideration given to compromise or the greater good. Doing the right thing should take precedence over being right.

Us/Them

Brief Note on Denomination

The denomination is in place for order and administration, not for self serving celebration, empty works justification, and “those not like us” condemnation, all of which distract the congregation from their primary missionary occupation which has, is, and always will be seeking soul salvation.

Today’s RNF (Random Neural Firing)

Seems a popular trend to elevate an individual (be it popular figure, politician, entertainer, athlete, ‘reality’ celebrity, etc.) to heights of expectation beyond reason (often at the hands of their own PR machine) then feign shock followed by mocking (often accompanied by exclamation laden headlines) when these same individuals inevitably fall from the lofty perches of expectation they had no business being placed upon in the first place.

Misplaced expectations most often ends in disappointment. The names, places, and details may change, but the general theme is repetitive and quite predictable.

One carpenter, many fishers of men

Mat 4:18-22 shows us that Jesus the carpenter did not call for more carpenters, but for fishers of men. As Chairman of the Trustee Board, Brother Stallings at Greater Centennial A.M.E. Zion Church used to say we need to remember to “stay in our lane”. Jesus does not need our help fixing, only catching. We are called only to catch, not to repair. Truth be told we cannot not repair ourselves. Why then would we try to fix others ourselves or determine who can be fixed? Offer Christ, pray and watch the Lord work a miracle.

Congratulations to CeCe Azrael Lee, the winner of the 22nd CED Quadrennial A.M.E. Zion Church Oratorical Contest!

Original Post July 29, 2010

I was blessed with the opportunity to help a young person, CeCe Azrael Lee, the daughter of FB friend Traci TC Carr. As a result earlier this week CeCe won the 22nd CED Quadrennial A.M.E. Zion Church Oratorical Contest in Raleigh, NC. Blessed to have been able to help. God bless.

Prepared by Eric L. Woods

“21st Century Christians: Restoring the Mission, Retooling the Leadership, Rebuilding the Community”

When you say the phrase “21st Century” the first thing that comes to mind for many is technology. Many tools are available now that were not available before:
The Internet
Websites
Facebook
Twitter
Myspace
LinkedIn
etc…

“Why Not You?” Sermon Song (Outline of Sermon Preached Sunday)

Why Not You?

The words to this song came all at once while waiting to be ordained in January of 2009 in Greenville, NC and the music was sent to me that night by Keith Burgess after he shared that the Lord instructed him to send it to me not realizing God had given me the lyrics just that morning. I recorded the lyrics that Monday and this is a portion of the result with the outline of the sermon preached from it this Sunday below. I no longer write out Sermons verbatim, but this serves as a summary of the main points.

http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/song_details/4213951?play_now=true

John 3:14-17

14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16″For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Sermon Topic: Why Not You?

Is the term “Mean Christian” an oxymoron?

1 Corinthians 13:13 (New King James Version from Biblegateway.com)

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Disclaimer: By nature I have a desire to make sense of things (within reason and within the context and boundaries of my limited earthbound, mortal, chronologically challenged vantage point that is), but first and foremost I consider myself an observer. From time to time patterns of behavior emerge that pique my interest due to their similarity and due to these behaviors falling outside of the context of my neatly packaged perspective. In short patterns that do not make sense to me. Knowing that I am not the gatekeeper of what is reasonable or not reasonable I attempt to look at these behaviors more closely to see if the patterns themselves were misidentified by yours truly (a series of anomalies masquerading as a pattern), whether I have tripped upon some new maxim or paradigm, or a hybrid of a and b. This is not an exact science, but it is convenient in that it requires no sanctioning body, consensus, quorum, or other external vetting process which renders it extremely portable and fluid. Long way of saying this is my opinion and nothing more and that your results (conclusions) may vary. That being said…

Be ye satisfied/Coveted clover

You have a lot of time to think when you push mow a lawn.

Last week I was noticing the weapons grade patches of clover in my lawn and the thought struck me “If my goal was to harvest clover I would be a smashing success.” I harbor no green thumb delusions. My lawn care check list consists of Mow Lawn weekly. That is it. I was all gung ho once when we first bought the house so I fertilized the lawn with my brand spanking new broadcast spreader. Even elicited the advice of my father (quite skilled in the art of lawn) and others and I made sure to choose the right type of fertilizer. Then the grass shot up to where I had to mow it twice a week. Did I mention that I push mow? That was the end of that. I dare someone to try and fertilize my lawn now. They will get chased down the street. But that does not mean I want to give free reign to all manner of undesirable flora.

Engineered by God

We had another great time in the Lord during service on Sunday and here an excerpt from yesterday’s sermon I wanted to share. The text was Matthew 6:25-34 and the topic was “Engineered by God” with the subtopic “Do Not Worry”:

“Now some of you may be saying right now, I have been praying, I have been seeking His kingdom, I have been reading scripture, I have been fasting and my situation still has not changed and I still struggle with worry. I am here to tell you to hold on and that your breakthrough is coming. Your experiences are part of how God will prepare you for and deliver to you greater things.

Easy Bake Oven Stress Test (Parenting PSA)

My wife recently entered the Easy Bake fray and in honor of her service I am reposting my experiences with this contraption:

I have just completed my 2nd baking extravaganza with my 8, 6, and 4 year old and I must say there ain’t nothing Easy about baking a palm sized cake with an Easy Bake Oven. Add a Dad who is a safety nut with three danger averse kids for extra fun. Let’s see the math:

Nonsense abounds while real issues go unnoticed

Real matters requiring our full attention (affordable healthcare/insurance and drug company lobbyists pouring millions in to Capitol Hill daily, etc.) go underreported while nonsense abounds (birthers, unfounded conspiracy plots, reality shows, celebrity ‘news’, etc.).

Having worked for a major drug company, a major insurance company, and two major medical institutions I have walked through hospitals and sat in billing related meeting for more than 12 years and I have heard alarming profiting strategies as well as nightmare scenarios endured by real people every day. The healthcare system as is cannot continue.

Please don’t ask me about birth certificates.

So ultimately no, I am not concerned with who was voted off, who was made over, who broke up with who, who was cut from that team, etc. At least not until real matters impacting real people are addressed.

Long, long ago I went on a company sponsored group tour of NBC when I was a GE Engineer.