About Me
I'm a Christ-following website developer, filmmaker and songwriter. I love Jesus and love spending time and ministering to my brothers and sisters. I am owner/partner at Resonate Creative a creative services firm based in Fort Worth, TX and Systems Analyst at Gateway Church.
Blog
Re-remembering God’s Promises
Posted by Evan on Oct 5, 2011 in Devotional | 0 comments
I’m the type of person that has to re-learn things quite frequently. I’m sure journaling would help, but for whatever reason I tend to learn/realize something which helps me through circumstances I’m in only to forget it and rediscover it later. Lately it has been happening a lot. One day I’ll remember that God has a plan and I’m right in the middle of it and I delight in that truth, then the next day I’ll spend half the day at a heightened state of anxiety only to remember that same truth again late that day, or maybe the next.
I trust I’m not alone on this, but I’ve been pondering why I do this to myself. Why, when I remember or discover these amazing, truly life-saving truths don’t I find a way to retain them, forever? I’ve even considered getting a tattoo recently just to place an indelible mark that will (hopefully) constantly remind me of the Amazing God who loves me and wants me to love Him. All because it’s far too important that I not forget His promises and provision. Not right now.
So what are some of these truths that have been so valuable to me personally? I’d love to share a few of them.
So, fellow forgetters of God’s promises, let’s press on! Let’s commit to finding ways, minute by minute, to remember His love and provision for us! When you’re hurting, when you need Him most, search for and cling to those promises in His Word. He’ll be glorified and you will be filled with joy, even in the midst of suffering. I promise.
Giving praise where it’s truly due
Posted by Evan on Sep 16, 2011 in Devotional, Slide, What's new with me? | 0 comments
Back in April my entire life changed. Most significantly my heart was supernaturally transformed from a person who was consumed with self, greed and stuff into a person who is totally consumed with Jesus Christ. I had nothing to do with this transformation, let me be clear. I had been praying over the last couple years the same prayer, over and over, “God, please change my heart”. There were many areas of my life that, despite my faith in Jesus, weren’t surrendered to him. Allow me to give painful detail:
All of these things changed within a 1 month period of time, so much so that it was overwhelmingly obvious that the Hand of God had truly reached down and took the time to clean up this wicked sinner. Praise His Name!
Not long after this I had a heart for worship that I had never known. I had also been praying over the last year for God to show me what true worship was. I didn’t believe in “emotion-filled” worship, and I also didn’t feel like I was experiencing anything I would have considered worship most of the time. For the first time in nearly a year I picked up my guitar and prayed that God would allow me to praise Him through music. Music began pouring out of me, I couldn’t contain it. I would stay up until 2 or 3:00 in the morning and I just couldn’t put it down, it was amazingly beautiful. I started to see that when my hearts desire was to truly glorify God He would do amazing things through me. For the first time ever I surrendered my talents totally to Him, I knew they weren’t meant for my glory.
Eventually, through Kari’s music, I discovered Gateway Worship and started listening to them. One night I was watching a Gateway Worship DVD and I heard God tell me “I will take you there”. At first I didn’t think too much about it, but a few moments later, as I realized those words didn’t come from my own thoughts, I got on the floor and began praying. “God, if this word is from you, I want it. Take me there. I will go anywhere you want me to go, use me.” I didn’t even know where Gateway Church was located at the time I don’t think. All I knew is that I now had a sense of purpose, a clear direction that I was going to follow.
My cousin Anton is my best friend and a brother in Christ that is wise beyond his years, the Spirit of God speaks loudly through him. I told him about what had happened and that’s when I received my first confirmation. As it turns out he had a friend who had been worship leader at a church in Florida he attended. This person had accepted a position at Gateway Church, so they were now one of the leaders of Gateway Worship. So, literally the day after I receive this calling I found out that my cousin here in Indiana knows someone who’s not only on staff at Gateway Church, they’re one of the leaders of Gateway Worship. And this wasn’t the only confirmation I got, I had another friend who also “happened” to have connections with people in Gateway’s audio/video departments. I began to give praise to God each time He would give me these sorts of confirmations. It made it very easy to take steps of faith.
I started connecting with people from Gateway, and specifically people in Gateway Worship on Facebook. Instantly I had a couple of people who took an active interest in my journey and were awesome encouragers. Eventually I decided that it was time to go and visit Texas and see what the church was all about. As I started thinking about it I was growing a little anxious. I could easily have driven to Texas, attended a church service and never spoken to a single person, the trip could prove to be fairly uneventful and that would have been extremely confusing. I prayed one night for God to show me what I should do in preparation for the trip. I had always been a big self-promoter, trying to do things the right way to get the desired outcome, etc. I didn’t want to do this that way. I wanted God to show me what to do and provide a way if this was what He was calling me to.
The next morning I received a message on Facebook from someone who sings with Gateway Worship. Heidi had been incredibly supportive from the beginning and her message was an unmistakable answer to my prayers the night before. She had suggested someone to get in contact with to make my visit to Gateway more fruitful and get my questions answered. She also invited me to sit in on pre-service run throughs with Gateway Worship. Yep, I cried. Never before had I seen God’s answers to my prayers so quickly and obviously.
These sorts of prayer answers came frequently and eventually I had enough faith in the calling that I put my house up for rent… and found a Christian family, who were wanting to move to the area to start a church, to rent it the same day. I was invited by my dad to come and stay with them until I had the money saved to move to Texas, so I took him up on it. After all, I still hadn’t been to Texas and I, at the very least, needed to go down there to look for a place to live before making the move. As it turns out, God had a plan for taking me to my dad’s house too. A couple of weeks after I moved in I went to see Kari Jobe lead worship in Ohio and my 17-year-old brother Austin came with me. He decided, on the 4 hour car ride home, that he wanted Jesus in his life too. Again I was humbled, and brought to tears, by this overwhelming display of God’s sovereignty.
A couple of weeks later I drove, with Austin, to Dallas Texas.
The weeks leading up to the trip were extremely challenging. I recognize them now as spiritual attacks that were attempting to lead me away from the path God had convinced me to walk on. In hindsight it’s scary how close I came to explaining away the calling to Texas. Through the distraction I knew that once I got to Texas and visited the church I would know, for sure, wether or not God was calling me there. It’s hard to explain how conflicted I felt about things at that time. (In writing this now I’m sorry that I questioned the calling in the first place)
I had the entire weekend filled with meetings that had been arranged with Heidi as well as Jason, one of the associate pastors of worship at the church. Saturday I was invited to sit in on a pre-service run through of all of the music for that evenings service. I drove up to the church (an impressive building) and parked in the otherwise empty parking lot. It was quite odd walking into this huge building that’s obviously design to accommodate thousands of people and yet seeing no one else. As I opened the doors I was instantly met with the beautiful sounds of a cappella vocal harmony. They were singing “Here in Your Presence” by New Life Worship. I got chills, I’m not gonna lie. I followed the voices around the hallway until I saw a door that lead into the auditorium. There I sat for an hour or so and experienced worship in-person with this group that only weeks ago I had been worshipping with through a DVD. I was overwhelmed, many times, by how far, and to where, God had brought me. And I knew this was home.
Afterwords I got to meet Heidi and had a few questions answered. It’s a bit of a blur now, but I do remember expressing to her what an answer to prayer she had been on that night when I prayed for God to show me what to do on my visit. She said God had told her to encourage and help me. Praise God.
The next day I had arranged to meet with Jason, one of the associate pastors of worship at the church. He answered even more questions and was an unbelievably loving brother in Christ. He took me back to meet everyone who was leading worship that weekend, which was great. I also Got to finally meet Kari Jobe, but I didn’t say much. Hopefully in the coming years I’ll be able to explain to her the amazing ways God used her to communicate His love and more-than-enough-ness to me.
After all of that I ran into someone else that I had been communicating with on Facebook. April and her husband Marco. We sat for a while and I was instantly amazed at the similarities between us. They’re both graphic designers and musicians with amazing love for the Lord. I instantly felt a connection with them that has grown by leaps and bounds since I got back to Indiana, I’m most excited to see what God has in store for that relationship.
So, my visit to Texas was the most amazing confirmation I could have ever wanted. I found an apartment and I got a peek at what God has in store for me at Gateway as well as the friends He has connected me with already. I’ll be moving the first week of October and I couldn’t be more excited. I already have plans for pursuing my calling to leading worship and writing music the moment I arrive there. God is good and faithful. The anticipation and excitement I have about the coming years pours out of me. I’ve seen mere glimpses of what He has in store for me and I’m humbled and overwhelmed.
I write all of this not to tell you how awesome my calling is, or how excited I am about going to a church where Kari Jobe is one of the worship leaders. I write all of this to give praise to our Amazing God for His faithfulness. For His ability to truly rise us out of the ashes of life. For His unfathomable sovereignty. For His Amazing Love. Even if you can’t write, play or sing music, your life-song can sing out God’s praises. Praise Him!
Just a moment of your time
Posted by Evan on Sep 2, 2011 in Devotional, Slide | 0 comments
Quite a few years ago a friend and myself arrived early (far too early) for a concert in Cincinnati Ohio. As we stood outside nearly five hours before the concert an extremely tall man walked past and after a second or two I realized it was Steve Vai, the very man we were standing in line to see that night. I’m guessing you have no idea who Steve Vai is, and I can’t say I blame you, he’s a solo guitarist who is admired by pretty much every guitar player on the planet. I ran over, introduced myself and shook his massive hand, it was pretty cool.
Just a few weeks ago I got to meet someone else that I admire greatly, Kari Jobe. She’s a worship leader and vocalist who I hadn’t heard much of until about 6 months ago. I was visiting Gateway Church in Texas, which is the church I’ll be joining once I get moved to Texas, and she’s one of the associate pastors there. What I couldn’t tell her at the time, but hope to tell her one day is how God used her, in the darkest period of my life, to remind me that He was more than enough for me. It was an amazing blessing.
But there’s one encounter that tops them all.
Tonight when I was praying I was struck, again, for what seems the hundredth time in the last 6 months with an amazing thought: The Creator of the universe is willing to spend time thinking about, talking to and having a relationship with me. Whoah. Of all of the people in the universe from whom I could steal just a moment of their attention, none of them could ever top that. The same God that spoke the heavens into existence and assigned names to the countless stars pursues me, cares about me, wants me to care about Him.
Have you pondered that before? Despite the fact that he knows everything, the good – and the bad – about you, He loves you to a degree that you cannot even fathom. And nothing will make him happier than for you to love Him back! My prayer for you is that today, even right now wether you’re sitting in a cubicle or at home in front of your computer, that you’ll take a moment and allow yourself to be overcome by His Amazing Love.
Telephone
Posted by Evan on Sep 2, 2011 in Devotional, Video Production | 0 comments
Here is the latest video I produced for Positive Influence. It’s called Telephone and it’s one of my favorites of the series.
“Moving On” from LOST: The End
Posted by Evan on Aug 19, 2011 in Music | 0 comments
I am a HUGE fan of LOST. It is by far one of my favorite shows of all time. One of the things that helped make LOST the show that it was is the music by Michael Giacchino. Recently I took some time to create an arrangement of “Moving On” which most of you will recognize as the music from the end of the final episode “The End”.
Quote of the Day: Superstition
Posted by Evan on Aug 19, 2011 in Devotional | 0 comments
This was on my heart today, trusting it will be helpful to someone out there.
Waiting on God
Posted by Evan on Aug 3, 2011 in Devotional, Slide, What's new with me? | 0 comments
So now I sit in a set of circumstances that are both blissfully ripe with potential, and at the same time almost maddeningly slow and mundane. I’m living in Brazil, IN with my dad, step-mom and brother and really enjoying the great quality time we’re able to have. I’m also spending lots of time focusing on trying to get work done and slowly work on getting rid of all of my debts. All the while, in the back of my mind is this call to move to Texas and get involved in the praise and worship team at Gateway Church. The calling I feel to Texas is a long story so I won’t go into those details just yet.
Perhaps what is bothering me most is not feeling very certain one way or the other. Should I stay, or should I go? If so, when? I know that when God’s answers aren’t clear the answer is usually “not yet”, so I’m trying to wait. However, I’m also incredibly excited to get moved and get involved in this amazing church. I’m just not sure it’s time for that yet… I continue to read, pray and seek God daily, trusting He’ll give me clarity when it’s time. But I’m also well aware, and willing to accept, that He may have something totally different in mind for me. I have an image on my desktop wallpaper that’s a constant reminder of where I want my heart to be “Your will be done, no matter what it is.” And that’s what I want. Truly.
I have a weekend trip planned to Texas this weekend to help get some clarity on the situation. My brother Austin and I are driving down and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll be visiting the church several times, will be checking out a couple of apartments and will also get to worship with Kari Jobe and Gateway Worship twice! I’m so pumped and hoping to have much more clarity when I return.
So, in the meantime I want to be ready and available for the day-to-day ways that I can glorify Him. I’m praying His spirit will open my eyes to the countless opportunities He’s putting in front of me every day, and that I will pursue them. So, if you would be willing I’d appreciate your prayers, I would appreciate it so much.
In the Love of Christ,
Evan
“You Are For Me” Kari Jobe Cover
Posted by Evan on Jul 30, 2011 in Music | 0 comments
The Father of a Murdered Son
Posted by Evan on Jul 28, 2011 in Devotional, Slide | 0 comments
I recently heard one of the best sermons ever by Pastor Mark Driscoll. It was called “The Father of a Murdered Son“. It brought to mind several thoughts I wanted to share, and in doing so I’ll also recap some of the main points of Mark’s sermon.
Imagine something with me for a moment. You own a house in another state. You’ve had renters for some time and you get word that they’ve been neglecting the property and they’re destroying the house. You’ve bent over backwards to try and make sure that all of their needs are met. You’ve been quick to respond to any issues that have come up with the property; you replaced the water heater just a couple of months ago and you always call them right back whenever they contact you, despite their obvious lack of respect for you and your property.
Eventually the reports become overwhelming and you become truly concerned that your house might be totally worthless by the time they move out. So, you send someone to check in on things and hopefully convince the tenants to take better care of things and show a little consideration. However, when he arrives at the property they invite him in only to beat him up and kick him out the front door. He returns with a report, things are even worse than you expected. Later you send another person to check in and try and appeal to the decency of the tenants, but the result is the same. He comes back and nothing has changed.
Eventually you decide that things have gone on long enough and you decide to give your son the authority to go to the house and do whatever is necessary to resolve the matter. After all, he’ll inherit the house soon and perhaps the tenants will understand the severity of the matter if your son shows up on the property. The results, however, are disastrous; things quickly get out of hand and they end up murdering your son, somehow thinking the property will become theirs if the heir is no longer able to take ownership of the property.
Your only son is dead, and all because the tenants were defiant and greedy. What would you do?
In Luke 20:9-16 Jesus tells a parable similar to this story. The parable was used to communicate an incredible truth from God’s perspective to the Chief Priests, who were quickly growing weary of Jesus’ presence. Let’s have a look:
What may or may not be obvious in this parable is that the “man who planted a vineyard” is God. The vineyard is the world, it’s us, it’s everything. He created it all. In this case he was likening the unfaithful religious of Israel (and in this case the Chief Priests specifically) to the tenants. They were God’s chosen people who would be the stewards of that which He had graciously given them. In the larger context we, all people, are also the stewards of that which He created while he is “away for a long time”. The servants God sent are His prophets. If you’ve read much of the old testament you’ll see many examples of Israel rejecting the prophets of God and essentially choosing to be their own gods instead of accepting the correction of the One True God through His chosen prophets.
The most fascinating part of this parable for me, however is the part about the man sending his son. If the meaning of this parable isn’t hitting you in the face by know I’m going to spoil it for you, Jesus is speaking of Himself when he speaks of the son. To me this portion of scripture is extremely special. It wraps up some significant truths about the history of the world, what God was trying to accomplish through His prophets and how He would eventually atone for the sin of man into one dense, but small package. It’s all there!
The father’s response is nothing shocking or surprising at first reading; it says “He would come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” I don’t have children, but I can almost guarantee you if someone killed my son to try and steal his inheritance I would almost certainly want to kill them. For this reason alone it should come as no surprise to us that hell exists, nor should it be of any surprise that we, as co-conspirators in the murder of the Son of God, should be destined to spend eternity there. In fact, if there wasn’t a hell one could rightly assume that the father didn’t love his son very much if he sought no justice for the murder of his son.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Here’s the “good news” or gospel of Jesus Christ. Yes, we, as a people had a hand in murdering God’s son Jesus. Yes, by default all mankind is destined for eternal punishment (hell). But here’s the amazing thing about Jesus that brings tears to the eyes of all those who profess Him as their Lord: Jesus decided to offer forgiveness to those who admit their guilt. At the end of the day there are really only two kinds of people, those who admit that Jesus died because of their sin and those who don’t.
His blood is on your hands. His blood is on my hands. But Jesus, after rising from the dead on the 3rd day created a way for us to be forgiven of that horrible act. In effect saying “the penalty of sin is death. Why don’t you tell me you’re sorry and I’ll have my death count for you so the Father will no longer be angry at you.”
But there’s one more thing that I don’t want you to miss from this parable. If you notice the very last part says “He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” This part speaks of the good news that would soon be taken outside of Israel and indeed to all other peoples of the earth! Salvation would no longer be confined to the ranks of the Jewish people, it would be offered to the gentiles, and unless you’re jewish that’s you! Indeed God would also give the inheritance of the son to those who also received the vineyard from the Lord.
May all praise be given to our Lord and King Jesus, who willingly offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for the very people who killed Him!
The unmatched, overwhelming nature of God’s love
Posted by Evan on Jul 18, 2011 in Devotional, Slide | 0 comments
Sam Mendes’ film American Beauty tells the story of a marriage that is falling apart. Through an unfortunate series of events the wife (Annette Bening) ends up deciding to murder her husband (Kevin Spacey) in their own home. Only moments later she finds herself in their bedroom staring into a closet full of his clothes and collapses into them with unbridled sobbing. It wasn’t until it was too late that she realized that she actually did love him. Her acting performance, and the tragedy of the circumstances make the scene incredibly difficult to watch every time.
On a lighter note in “A Civil Action” starring John Travolta tells the story of a hot-shot attorney who decides to take on a case in a small town where several children have died as a result of contaminated drinking water. In the process of funding their prosecution of the various corporations who might be responsible for this pollution he and his partners end up losing almost every material asset they had, which was no small sacrifice. Eventually they reach a settlement with the company and have to take the news of the small amount back to the parents who lost their children. The parents aren’t upset about the small amount of the settlement, but are instead upset by the fact that the company will not be required to make any significant operating procedures to ensure the problem doesn’t happen again. One of the partners tries to soften the blow by reminding them how much he and his partners have lost as a result of this case to which she responds “How can you even begin to compare what you’ve lost to what we’ve lost?”
Both bring me to tears, almost every time. Sometimes I put myself in the shoes of the character and other times it effects me in a different way, as if the feeling of what the writer is trying to communicate hits me so hard that I can’t help but cry. Other times I’m just overwhelmed at the beauty of the love that some people exhibit through their actions.
Today at the gym I was walking on the treadmill. I’m not a sports fan but ESPN was playing on the TV and I just happened to look up and notice a little boy who was standing field-side at a soccer/football game. He was very small, probably 6 or 7 years old. The game had just ended and one of the players from his favorite team ran over, took off his shirt and handed it to the young boy, who was so excited at meeting his favorite player face-to-face that all he could do was stare down at the ground. The tall, muscular man smiled, reached his arms out and grabbed the boy, pulling him to himself and lifting him up to his chest giving him a hug. The little boy’s embarrassment and awe gave way to joy as he lay on the mans shoulder, it was truly touching. I totally welled up right there on the treadmill and something came to mind.
We as people are capable of some truly beautiful acts of love. We can be giving, caring and loving people sometimes, but of course we can also struggle with displaying attributes that are the opposite of those things. But, at the end of the day even our most beautiful, awe-inspiring and heart-melting acts of kindness are mere shadows of the love displayed to us by our amazing God.
After all, it would be easy as a soccer hero to show love to a child who idolizes you. As a parent I’m sure when you boil it down it’s easy to love your children because you know deep down they love you, despite what their actions say. However, it’s only the amazing, overwhelming and perfect love of God that can love us even though we have truly hated Him. In Isaiah 53:3 Isaiah gives us some prophecy concerning the coming messiah.
What’s truly amazing about this scripture is that it was written over 700 years before Christ was even born! What’s truly humbling about this scripture, and what brings me to tears today is this…. God knew, before He sent his son to us in order to save us, that we would hate Him. He knew that we would reject Him. He knew that we would even kill him. However, he loved us so much that he sent Him anyway, because that was what he had to do in order to spend eternity with us. Let’s read more of Isaiah 53 (NIV).
My prayer for myself, and for anyone reading this, is that we will live a life that seeks to praise the name of the one who died for us. Not because that’s how we are saved, but because that is why we were saved. He who has ears, let him hear!