Right now I'm reading a book by Tony Dungee called Quiet Strength. I would highly recommend it. The last "coach" book I've read was by Joe Gibbs. I always find it interesting to see how leaders get to where they are. I appreciate these guys because they are walking out their faith in the public eye. Every move they make, people, press and the world are watching what they do. Do you ever think that you'd change what you'd do if you had that kind of press coverage? These leaders realize that they've been given a platform to share about the love of Jesus Christ. They get a chance to share Godly principles that have shaped their lives. It dawned on me as I was reading this morning that all of us have a sphere of influence. We may not have press conferences after big meetings or reporters knocking on our door to find out what we ate for breakfast but we have people surrounding us that are watching how we live our lives. So, how are you living your life today? Would a person see you and know that you are a Christian? Would they see the way you approach life and have people see Jesus through your actions?

My prayer for you today is that you recognize that you are an influencer for the kingdom of God and that you have a choice every day that you wake up, to use that influence to expand that kingdom. As cliche' as this might sound, let's get out there and do some good!

*Go Redskins!*

I shouldn't be surprised when God answers my prayers. As I look back over the past year a smile comes to my face. In the course of one year I have seen many people come to know Jesus and enter into a relationship with him. It's been an awesome year. Many kids have made fresh starts and are asking for help on how to go about this. So as much as I love to sit and reflect, the job has only just begun.

H20 is growing literally each week. We have more and more kids that are inviting friends that are hurting and need a touch from God. In order to make this all happen at H20 we have a large group worship time with middle school and senior high together. We then split these two groups up and have age appropriate messages and activities that help deepen our relationship with Christ. All this is awesome and great, but where the real discipleship takes place is in our small groups. We have six groups that meet each week right after the message to talk about how things are going in our lives. This is where the much needed discipling takes place.

Right now we are looking for people that have a heart for our H2O kids to help lead these small groups. If you would like to partner with H2O to see life change happen, call us. We need your help. Are you up for the challenge? Are you willing to give a night out of your week to help kids know and understand Jesus? When life happens these kids need to know that there is someone that they can count on when life gets tough. You can be that person. Think about it.

-Andy
arogers91@gmail.com
www.horizonschurch.com
757-373-3164

Okay, so now you know the worship music I listen to. Now I'll give you some Christian bands that I'm really loving.

An album that my daughter loves is TobyMac's latest offering which called "Portable Sounds" The thing I like about this album is the quality of musicianship and the production on this is phenomenal. You hear these songs on ESPN and other channels for their promo songs which is pretty cool. It's a very well done album. You've come a long way TobyMac from those DC Talk Rapping days!

Leeland is another band that is truly amazing. Their songwriting is amazing and they are really talented young musicians. The album is called "Sound of Melodies" and they have a new album that will be coming out soon which is supposed to be even better than the current album!

I'm a huge Switchfoot fan and any of their latest albums are very thought provoking and truly have a great unique sound all their own.

Reliant K gets a lot of play at youth group on Sunday nights. Their latest is called "Five score and seven years ago".

Check it out!

A lot of you have been asking me the question, "What is a good Worship CD or what is a good CD that I can buy for my kids. First of all, I have a wide range of musical tastes and I try to bring that into the music that I create. Here's a couple of albums that have really influenced me over the past year.

I listened to a lot of Hillsongs United this year. They had two albums that really are amazing. You may notice them playing in the background before the service starts. "United We Stand" and "All of the Above." I'm always looking for songs that bring me into the "presence" of the Lord and these two albums have many songs like "Fire Fall Down", "From the Inside Out", "No One Like You" that do just that.

Of course, I absolutely love Crowder and his new "Remedy" CD is growing on me. Passion CD's are always something that is a must in my collection.

Lincoln Brewster hasn't come out with a new project lately but his "Live" album inspires me to become a better musician/worshiper.

That's it for now. Have a great weekend!

-andy