Josh Gumbert

Worship in Spirit and Truth

So some of you might know that I am in a "seminaryish" type of a program that is put on by FBC.  I am near the end of the second of three years.  One more week left.  This last week out homework is to prepare a preaching outline that is our passion.  For some guys this might be hard to figure out what their passion is.  For me, not so much... 

 In the church today there are so many "christians" seeking to find a better worship experience.  Leaving churches that are sound in doctrine and have a solid doctrine in worship but might lack a certain "wow" aspect in the actual experience.  This is sad to me as music has become the focus to many churches in the country instead of the content that makes up the church (people, pulpit, doctrine, etc.)  It is not uncommon for a church to ignore the heart of the person/people leading the congregation because of the talent possessed by that musician.  God cares about the heart even if the church doesn't.  But we should be on guard about the people that we allow to be "up front".

It is sad to me that the things that Christ would say are first, have become secondary to this generation seeking to gain, "what's in it for me?".  These people are mistaking emotion for actual worship.  Don't get me wrong.  There are churches that have both solid doctrine, and great music.  I am grateful for those churches and hope that many would consider FBC to be one.  My goal as a worship leader is to lead a time of complete, undistracted devotion of praise via singing, to our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.  He is worth of that.  John 4 tells the story of Jesus with the woman at the well and He says in verse 23 that the Father is seeking for people to worship in spirit and in truth.  I like that Jesus tells us that the Father is SEEKING for us.  Be that person He is seeking for.  

I have struggled in the past with style and preference issues that caused me to be distracted during times of corporate worship.  By God's grace, I have been changed and I am now able to worship Him for who He is and not for how a particular song is played.  I still have preference (there is nothing wrong with that), but I am no longer limited to worship Him in that preference.  I would call this generation of seekers to break free from that way of thinking, and probably in most cases, living.  Seek His face and not the hand of the church.  Participate in corporate worship with an attitude of thanksgiving and praise regardless of style and preference.  And once you do that, you will find that your worship time will be so much sweeter.  

This is my passion.  Especially lately.  I am praying hard for the world to change.  For more to come to a knowledge of Him who paid it all for us.  

Love and Peace,

Josh

You Know What I Hate?

College football is hands down, my absolute favorite sport to watch.  I love the excitement leading up to the season and checking the recruits out on Scout.com.  Then when the season arrives, it is a huge let down for me as I am a UCLA fan. The season begins with me rooting for the Bruins to win every game and ends up with me rooting for USC to lose ever game.  If you were to meet me just before a season began, you would say, "Wow, that guy loves UCLA."  But by the end of the season you would say, "Wow, that guy really hates USC."  Is that what I want to be known for?  Do I want to be the guy remembered for the things that I hate? I shouldn't want that.  And the sad thing is that I see this happening in all around me.  

I'd like to start a movement against negative status updates on facebook/twitter.  Don't get me wrong, I am guilty of the same thing.  I am more prone to let the facebook/twitter world know of a disaster, potential disaster, hardship, grief, disappointment, disagreement, etc. than I am to let them know of something good.  Yes, I know that the world is evil and that terrible things happen and that we should be made aware of certain things (Haiti s a great example of this).  I am more sad for the people writing these depressing, desperate updates, begging a response so that they will have an opportunity to argue.  Mainly because I know how sad that place is for them.  To live in a tired, weary hole with vision only for mistakes and slip ups by others.  And in that tired, weary hole, the person living there is usually the wrong one and not the others. 

There is an agenda here, I guess.  The point is that we shouldn't try to be defined by the things we hate.  Rather we should desire to be defined by the things we love.  I want people to know me as the guy that loves his wife and daughter.  The guy that is faithful and hard working.  The guy that knows good music and loves UCLA.  But most importantly the guy that loves and lives for Jesus.  I won't bring this up again in a blog or status.  I just felt the need to make aware the people that might do this. I used to and it is a very unhappy way to live.  I wouldn't go as far to say that it is wrong, just silly.  Food for thought I guess.  Love and peace.

Josh

Playlists:

boxer - The National

Hello Hurricane - Switchfoot

Daisy - Brand New

The End of the World - Francis Chan

March Update

So it's late in March and my posts are lagging.  Sorry about that.  Things have been crazy busy and I am doing my best to keep up with the day to day.  The Lord gives strength and we will endure.  But anyway, Easter is coming!!! This is like the superbowl of Sundays.  The day that Jesus rose from the dead.  It is documented and true.  And the foundation of my faith.  Without the resurrection, Christianity is found lacking.  

Before Easter, we have a Good Friday service in the evening on Friday the 2nd of April.  It will be a very sober night of reflection on the Cross and what happened that day on Calvary.  The brutality is something that we can't fully imagine, but it is good to try and get our minds there.  Good Friday is one of my favorite church events.  It helps put things into perspective in my life.  

In preparation, Danny and I have been rehearsing two bands every Monday night.  A Good Friday band and an Easter band.  We both are very excited about the music and the arrangements we have put together for them.  It is going to be a good time both days (Friday and Sunday).

The family is great and Emery is growing well.  I love returning home from work to find a giant, open mouthed smile on "Emmy's" face.  Any worry of the day is completely forgotten and replaced with a joy I can't explain.  I am so blessed.  Thank You Jesus!!!  Below is a video of my little girl having her first taste of popcorn.  I think she likes it.

Simple Joys

So these last few weeks have been super crazy.  I don't think I have said in this blog, but my vocation is not worship leading.  Though I love doing it, my job is sales.  I sell medical equipment to doctors.  Mainly for trauma.  So if you fall and break your clavicle or your elbow or wrist, etc, I sell the plates and screws that fix you.  I love my job and it is a true blessing to have, especially with the state of the economy.  So know that, I really love my job and the opportunities that I have there are great.  Lately it has been tough.  With my rigorous ministry schedule on top of my regular duties as a salesman and father and husband... I have been getting home pretty late.  The first three nights this week I didn't get to see Emery before she went to bed.  Needless to say, it had been pretty frustrating.  

She brings me so much joy.  Earlier in the week she was quite the model.  Tracy Dodson came over to take Emery's pictures for her being 6 months old.  Though I wasn't here for it, I heard that she did great and that it was a total blast.  She loves to smile and knows exactly where the camera is.  The pictures turned out great and when I saw them, I was definitely feeling the joy that "Emmy" brings me.  Thanks for capturing that Tracy.  You can check the pics out at her blog here

Emery also got a jumper handed down from here older cousin.  She loves it.  There is a video below.  So there are these awesome joys that I have in my life.  I love my daughter.  I love my beautiful wife.  I am saved by grace, through faith in Christ.  Life is good.  I'll be back to update later.  One Love.

Playlists:

Ryan Adams - Love is Hell pt.1

Sigour Ros - Von

The Appleseed Cast - Two Conversations

Read List:

Pastoral Ministry - John MacArthur

Leviticus

Making Some Upgrades

About three weeks ago my HP laptop took a dump.  No rhyme or reason.  1 Year old and I lost a lot of pictures, documents, spreadsheets, contacts, etc.  I know, I know... Why didn't you back it up Josh???  Good question.  I learned my lesson and I won't let it happen again.  So that being our only computer, we got it repaired with a new hard drive (thanks Jimmy) and I bought a used Mac Book (thanks Korina).  So far I love it.  There is a little bit of a learning curve but its not bad.  I think this can be a huge help for ministry.  I can do a lot more with the Mac than I could with the HP.  I just started with Garage Band tonight.  I'm pretty excited to get some cool stuff recorded and posted.  So look for that.  

Reading:

Peacemaking for Families - Ken Sande

Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem

Playlists:

Brand New - Deja Entendu

Dredg - El Cielo

Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise

Final Day of the DG Conference

The final day. After a crazy late night with the guys. We got started early on the last day of sessions. It was really only a half day. One speaker (a missionary to Iraq) shared his testimony and spoke of the call to missions. The second session was a Q&A with the pannel of speakers throughout the conference. I expected more from the Desiring God conference. So I guess there was a little disappointment from what the men delivered. John Piper is still one of my favorite preachers and authors. I am very thankful for how the Lord has used him in my life. Sam Storms seemed to lean very heavy on what John Edwards had said about true joy instead of looking to scripture. He was asked why during the Q&A session and was defensive when asked the question why he did it the way he did. He is merely man and is not perfect. He ultimately believes that scripture is the end all but used a lot of Edwards to show that this idea of "Christian Hedonism" isn't a new idea. I appreciate Storms, but I wish he did it differently.

After the conference ended, we caught a bus to a place called Matt's Bar. Home of the Juicy Lucy. It is basically a burger with cheese cooked between 2 patties. It was fun to end the trip with a novelty burger famous to Minneapolis.

After the glorious burger, a snow fight broke out between me and the devil known as Jonas. He would say that he dominated but the truth is that he got lucky with cheap and sneaky, blind side hit. Revenge will be sweet.

All in all... Great trip with the boys. Great time discussing the future of each man in the church and a great time discussing God's Word. I'm excited to get home to see my girls. Thanks for following the blog for the last few days. Until next time... One love... In Christ.

Josh

Playlists for the trip:
Pedro the Lion - It's hard to find a friend
Thom Yorke - Eraser
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Spoon - Kill the moonlight
Deftones - White Pony (yeah, im not sure either)

Day 2 of the conference

We are having a blast. This trip for me hasn't been about the great teaching (it has been great) but the time with the guys has been really great. I'm rooming with a guy that I wouldn't have picked to room with. My brother in law is on the trip with me and that seemed the most logical room mate situation being that it wouldn't have been the first time. But our rooms were assinged and who we got is who we got. I like that I am challanged in comforts like this. And the time with my roomie has been better than I thought it would've been. I'd gladly room again with Wayne.

The morning message came from a guy that has been the highlight of the conference for me an some of the other guys. His name is Eric Mason and he pastors a church in Dallas. He brought the word in a style not familiar to us in our suburbian bible belt. In a word, refreshing. After the morning meetings we grabbed lunch at a middle eastern resturant where I had the best shwirma sandwich I have ever had. (shwirma is basically a gyro but in a pita pocket). I consider myself cultured in food and can typically find anything that i would like on a menu. Im glad I went with the shwirma.We came back to enjoy a biography of CS Lewis by John Piper. It was very encouraging to me that a man I love and respect (John Piper) was affected greatly by a man that didn't share a lot of the same doctrinal or theological views. God used and is still using Lewis to encourage and affect the lives of many. Just and FYI - if you didn't know, Chronicles of Narnia is about Jesus.

For dinner, we walked about a mile in the cold ,sub 10 weather to a pretty good pizza place. Their famous for a "baked potato pizza". Toppings included bacon, broccli, sour cream and mashed potato. It was suprisingly good. We then walked the mile back to catch Sam Storms for his last session. He wrapped it up well, though his style is something that we are not used to.

The favorite of the day was still Eric Mason. www.desiringgod.org You can find the audio at that web address. Eric had some very practical application to his message. He said, " Suffering is the foreman or super intendent on the construction site that is sanctification." He went on to share how his prayers have changed from asking God to allow trials to pass by, to asking God to prepare his heart to endure the upcoming trials. Trials come and it is for a purpose. Embrace it and rely on Christ. That was helpful for me.

After the last session, we went out for some local favorite dessert. Sebastian Joe's. The night was wrapping up well. After some good ice cream and better fellowship the night was still young at 10:30pm. I stayed out with some guys till about 2:30am. So far it has been my favorite time of the trip. I'm looking forward to what the final day brings and hoping to make my flight home. Jenny and Emery are missed terribly. Lord bring me home.

Thanks for reading... One love
Josh

Day 1 of the Conference

So I made it to Minneapolis. I'm struggling on 3 hours of sleep, but I made it. I hooked up with the guys at a place called "Hells Kitchen" where they had breakfast. I was envious because it smelled sooo good in there but I was just arriving as they left. John had planned a big day of sight seeing and hanging out before the conference actually began on this very cold Monday. We went to the mall of America to start out. We raced cars played some putt putt and even took and old western photo as a group of 18 knuckleheads. We had some good laughs and it was good to see the guys having fun before we got down to the niddy griddy. Dinner was at small but popular Irish pub where I enjoyed some delightful corned beef and cabage and a little bit of a pot roast sandwich. Way too good not to go back someday. Jenny would love it. As we ate, we could see outside that the snow was really coming down. The temp was a whopping 8* outside. Being a Cali boy, I was in some legitimate pain missing the 70* weather I left in San Diego. But I was able to endure:-). The first session started at 7 with worship and a word from Sam Storms. I posted some pictures from today and I will post more. I'm glad to be here with the guys. Looking forward to sleep and waking up rested to focus hard on the Word of God. Stay tuned. One love.

Josh

Day 1 of DG Conference

Travel day!!! My final destination is Minneapolis, MN for the Desiring God conference. There are about 18 of us total that are going. I'm pretty excited though this first day isn't quite what I had hoped for. My step dad is a pilot for delta and is able to get me the "hook up" on a cheap ticket. The thing is, there's a catch... Stand by. My first flight was schduled to leave LAX at 3:30pm. I didn't make it. The second flight was scheduled to leave just 3 hours later. Didn't make it. Option three meant that I get a ride from LAX to John Wayne airport in Santa Ana and catch a red eye to Detroit and a super early flight to Minneapolis. So here I am at 4:50am at the Detroit airport. Tired and hopeful to make the next flight. I've never really been in an airport where it looked like a ghost town. And I've been in a lot of airports. So I guess that I'm not crazy, other people think this is early too. I'm sure the conference is going to be great but the hard part for me is being away from my girls for so long. I've only been away 1 night since Emery was born. That was tough and now I'll be gone 3 nights. But the trip is worth it and I'm looking forward to enjoying some great bible teaching with guys that I love. I'll keep you all updated. One love.

Josh

NAMM Recap

So I made it to the NAMM show for the first time in my life this weekend.  There is just way too much stuff in the music industry... I was there for 2 whole days and didn't get close to seeing everything.  There were a few booths that really stood out to me though.  I am in the market for a good distortion pedal (possibly an overdrive) and ZVEX had some really cool ones.  I spent a lot of time in the Fender booth but only because I love my boy Dave who works for them.  Because of him, I love Fender.  They also make some pretty good guits...  

The music industry in general is know for being dark and unredeemed.  I was able to go to NAMM with some guys that truly love Jesus.  These guys play music with a purpose that is totally redeemed.  To exalt Christ.  It was a ton of fun to get some different perspectives on live sound too.  My favorite part was hanging with the boys.  The show was in Anaheim so that also gave me the opportunity to hang with my dad down the road.  He let us crash at his place after feeding us endless amounts of ribs.  TOO GOOD...  He also hooked us up with a pretty bomb breakfast in the AM.  Thanks Pop..

The hardest part was leaving Jenny and Emery for a night.  I missed them a whole bunch.  Emery is getting bigger and smarter.  The smartness comes from her mommy and it is making her a lot of fun.  She smiles constantly and it melts my heart every time.  So they were missed but Jenny sent me this picture to keep my spirits up.  Its a little pixelated but hey, its a camera phone.

Love and Peace