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
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Taking in the view
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Monday, January 17, 2011
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
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:
- This would take time, but I was not told how much.
- Let the reinstall run it’s course.
- 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…
The Internet
Websites
Myspace
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.
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.
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