Worship Experience: Reflections from April 21

I'm a little late getting to this post, but Sunday was an especially draining day physically and we just started revival at the church. Life happens. Ministry happens. And blog posts get pushed back. It's not the end of the world.Here's this week's Worship Experience!Sunday Morning ReflectionsI need to learn more hymns. Well, it's not that I need to "learn" them per se, I just need to practice, update,...

Worship Experience: Reflections from April 14

Sunday Morning ReflectionsAh, Hymns of the Spirit. When the old regular red back won't do, there's always Hymns of the Spirit. I have fond memories of singing from the songbook, which coincidentally is also red. I have seen the book in green as well, but I digress.My memories of Hymns of the Spirit come from our time at the Boynton Church of God over two decades ago. I was young, quite young in fact,...

Are you listening to Kingdom Voices?

There are so many voices in today's culture. Anyone with a laptop or even a smart phone can lift up their voice with little to no repercussion or accountability. People are saying many things and there are many delivery methods for those voices to be heard.What are you listening to?Are you listening to opinions about politics, sports, and/or religion? Are you listening to the many voices...

Social Media Discretion Advised for Kingdom People

Lately, I've been a bit disturbed at the speed and ferocity with which Internet rumors are posted and re-posted via Facebook and Twitter by supposed church folks.Before you know it, some off-the-wall falsehood about a preacher has spread to thousands of people with the mere click of the "Share" or "Re-Tweet" button.I'm to the point where I must ask, what purpose does it serve to spread this story?...

Worship Experience: Reflections from Sunday, April 7

Worship Experience will be a weekly post at joelabarker.com. As a worship leader, I want to share with others what God is doing in my church with the worship team.My hope is that "Worship Experience" will become a hub of sorts for worship leaders everywhere to share their Sunday experiences, set lists, service recaps, etc.Now, for this week's Worship Experience.Worship Experience: April 7Sunday Morning...

Introducing Joelabarker.com | Worship, Church, Community, Kingdom

Welcome to joelabarker.com! I'm so excited to get this blog launched. As I said in the first post "Ready. Set. Go!", this site is nearly one year in the making.Over the last year, I have basically had to relearn blogging. After five years writing about sports for various websites and publications, I figured I should take my time in venturing out into a new area of the blogosphere.Yes, sports was and...

Ready. Set. Go!

If you call yourself a writer, it only stands to reason that you actually write from time to time.For five years I called myself an aspiring sportswriter. During the last of those five years, writing about sports—football in particular—was how I made money. Not much money, mind you, but money nonetheless.Then something strange happened. I completely lost my desire to write about sports. Totally stopped,...