don't you wanna little taste of the GLORY...

(Nathan Cline and I love that quote from Nacho Libre!)

Sooooooo,
another year of HIMnI begins on September 20th.







New location, same purpose.

This year we'll be meeting at Carrollton Presbyterian. We moved from the Prytania Theatre because of recent renovations. They completely removed their stage and brought the screen forward, thus eliminating our hopes of using that amazing building for HIMnI.

But no worries, God has provided us with another excellent location for this year's HIMnI. Carrollton Presbyterian has been extremely cooperative and gracious, and we are thrilled to partner with them as we seek to proclaim God's glory together.

And how about that word, GLORY?

It's my new favorite word. My favorite word this past summer was "awesome." Anyone who heard me speak knows how many times I said the word "awesome." (The record was 20 times in 3 minutes during announcements.)

But lately, God has buried this idea of "glory" deep within my conscious, and He won't let me go of it.

I think this fascination first originated through a song. Our HIMnI band, known now as the Andrew Ogea Band, sings a song called "Your Glory." (Please get it on iTunes if you haven't already) Andrew and the gang led us in that song nearly every week this summer for MissionLab, and I fell in love with it. God used this song to help me meditate on my ultimate purpose.

I truly believe my ultimate purpose in life is to "PROCLAIM THE GLORY OF GOD."
I think most Christ followers will agree with that.

His majesty, his wondrous acts and marvelous love, his generous portions of peace and joy amidst other things, have brought me to a place of awe. I'm a bit fearful of God, because He is so overwhelming in glory that I can do nothing but marvel at his great name.

But what does glory necessarily mean?

I love the word. Really I do.

The most sovereign of the universe speaks to me through this word, and that's why I want to know more about it.

He is glorious, and glory flows from him onto us and all he has made. We make him glorious, through our successes and failures, but his glory stands firm and rests upon his name alone. My purpose is to enter into his glory, and to submit myself to the partaking of his glory, whether it be done through me, unto me, in me, or by me. All I know is that God alone is glorious, and we share in the mission of making the king of Glory known everywhere and to everyone.

On September 20th, we will begin a wonderful journey of comprehending the glory of God. I am an amateur, if that, and people know this about me. I am no seminary professor, and I have no extraordinary insight; all I claim to have is curiosity and desire. Together, I hope God will impart to us nuggets of wisdom pertaining to his glory. Our only prerequisite is that the Holy Spirit would show up and teach us about his wondrous glory.

I hope you are excited to join us on this journey.

If you need any information about HIMnI, please visit our website or contact me at greg@himni.org.

WE WANT

TO BE A PEOPLE

WHO LIVE

FOR HIS GLORY ALONE.

Hope to see you there. Together, let us learn what it truly means to live for the glory of a king.

one studdly man...

Somewhere along this journey towards the French Quarter, God brought the life of C. T. Studd to my attention.

So before the madness begins, before my thoughts are neatly fashioned onto a page, I need to share about this amazing man who lived with reckless abandonment for the glory of a king.

Here's what this man of God once said:

"The best training for a soldier of Christ is not merely a theological college. They always seem to turn out sausages of varying lengths, tied at each end, without the glorious freedom a Christian ought to abound and rejoice in. You see, when in hand-to-hand conflict with the world and the devil, neat little biblical confectionery is like shooting lions with a pea-shooter: one needs a man who will let himself go and deliver blows right and left as hard as he can hit, trusting in the Holy Ghost. It's experience, not preaching that hurts the devil and confounds the world. The training is not that of the schools but of the market: it's the hot, free heart and not the balanced head that knocks the devil out. Nothing but forked-lightning Christians will count. A lost reputation is the best degree for Christ's service. It is not so much the degree of arts that is needed, but that of hearts, loyal and true, that love not their lives to the death: large and loving hearts which seek to save the lost multitudes, rather than guard the ninety-nine well-fed sheep in the British pen."

It was also C.T. Studd who said:

SOME WISH TO LIVE WITHIN
SOUND OF CHURCH OR CHAPEL BELL,
I WANT TO BUILD A RESCUE MISSION
WITHIN A YARD OF HELL.

I think C.T. must have been a violent man. The Word says, "“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force" (Mt. 11:12).

I pray Jesus teaches me to advance his kingdom without fear. I pray, as the days in this wonderful place unfold, that he will teach me how to be violent about his business like C.T. was in Africa.