CMS 2012 Announces Full Lineup

Back for its 5th year – CMS @ The Chapel is set for May 4-5, 2012. A conference for musicians, lead worshipers, technicians, songwriters, indie artists, and creative types of all kinds to improve skill and inspire talent for God’s glory.

This year's lineup includes David Crowder, Christy & Nathan Nockels, Doyle Dykes, Peter Furler, The City Harmonic, Benji and Jenna Cowart, Paul Baloche, Brenton Brown with The Worship Republic, The Blues Counsel and many more including a special photography & visual arts track with Jeremy Cowart. Additionally there will be over 50 workshops for everyone from technicians, to songwriters, to musicians. 
For info on attending the evening concerts, click here

MUSIC: Splendor with Christian Rainville

By Kyle Patterson

"I want God's heart to be felt through the lyrics and music.  I want listeners to know that he is a great God, a creative God, a merciful and gracious God, a loving God, a sovereign God, and a jealous God in that he longs for our attention and servant hood.   I want His attributes to be portrayed through my music," explains Christian Rainville who recently released a three song EP this past September (EP stands for Extended Play a CD that contain more than one single, and less then 8 tracks), titled “Splendor” containing Rainville's songs, “Lift You Up 2011,” “Splendor,” and “What Would I Say.” The EP is a sample of what's to come when next summer Rainville plans to release a full length recording, “My goal was to make a sampler of what the full length album would be like.   I also did not want it to be perfect.  That sounds weird, even to my own ears, but I wanted the full album to be better than the sample,” explained Rainville. “’What Would I Say?’ was written in a half hour and is a bit more soulful.  The title track “Splendor” was literally birthed out of the birth of my son Isaac.

I recorded his heart beat at his last ultrasound, and as I was listening to it, I started playing a chord progression while the lyrics started flowing like a river. That track is a more contemporary Christian sound, or even a New Country sound.”

     The EP was recorded right at the Tabernacle where Rainville leads worship. Song writing and worship are an overflow of his passion to lead people into worship, something that stirs his heart every time he plays, “I love the whole spectrum of what worship does...from dancing and shouting with huge smiles on their faces to the reflective moments to the "digging deeper" more sovereign moments.  Just last Sunday, I saw a father and a young son on their knees together praying,  and I just lost it mid-song.  Moments like those are what touch the heart of God.”

     Rainville, who began writing music nearly ten years ago took it to the next level and began writing much more often in 2008 after together with the rest of the Tabernacle worship team (along with the direction of producer and band member of Blues Counsel Tony Hooper), they recorded the live album “Release the Sound.” This proved to be a tipping point in Rainville's work and he went to work shortly after and ended up with an album worth of songs with half of them being congregational worship songs and the other half being reflective, or storytelling songs.   

     “Splendor” gives us a glimpse into Rainville's heart and passion for worship and hopefully and ultimately leads us to the place of glimpsing into the heart God as Rainville leads us to the place of quietness and stillness. From the sound of it, there may be many more to come in the not so            distant future.

    

Readers can listen online at:

www.reverbnation.com/onecallchristianrainville

www.facebook.com/pages/One-Call-CJPR-Music

Christmas: A Season of Giving

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who is a pastor.  I was shocked to hear that he and his church don't celebrate Christmas! Maybe it’s because I’m from England, but I’d never heard of Christians not celebrating Christmas.  Yes, the date of Christmas may not be the actual birth date of Christ. Yes, we are always battling with a culture of consumerism which has turned Christmas into a money machine, however, Christmas is the most incredible opportunity there is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  For some people it is one of two times a year that they will set foot in a church.  For some people it is the only time they will listen to a song with a Christian theme.  This Christmas myself and a few other Christians have been given a unique opportunity.  It all started when we began to volunteer one day a week with the after school program at our local community center.  After doing this for a few months, being very open about our faith in Jesus Christ, the directors of the center came to us with a request.  They wanted to know if we would teach their kids about Jesus and the real meaning of Christmas.  We naturally wanted to know why and our good friend who works at the center explained.  She had announced a question to the kids, “Who knows whose birthday is coming up soon?” and was shocked by the response “SANTA CLAUS!”  She concluded that the kids need to be taught about who Jesus is and what the Bible says.  She couldn’t think of anyone better to teach than us at Steps Ministry.  What an opportunity!  Think about YOUR community, YOUR neighbors, YOUR family members.  They NEED to hear about the truth of Christ.  God is waiting for you to be available to him.  Many claim that it’s all irrelevant and they don’t need God or Jesus or Church.  But deep down there is a longing in the heart of every man and woman for the Jesus of Christmas.  These kids in South Buffalo are going to hear about Him, all because we made ourselves available to God. (Matt. 5:13)  I’m sure God could find a better person to do this than me, but He’s only able to work through those who make themselves available to Him.  I’m sure that teenage Mary could have told the angel a whole bunch of excuses why she couldn’t be God’s mother, but she didn’t!  Instead she said, “I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.  Let it be with me just as you say.”  (Luke 1:38 The Message).  Are you available to God this Christmas?

Ben Tagg is Director of Steps Ministry in South Buffalo.

5 Questions with Brother Robert

Brother Robert
Franciscan Monk
Serving at City Mission. 31 years old, healed of deafness as a child.


1) When did you first feel called to the monastic life and the greatest blessing and hardest challenge of walking out this life of devotion? I first felt called soon after receiving the healing (of deafness) in my childhood. It did not come into full fruition until later in my life, however since my childhood I had interacted with lay and full religious clergy and monastics. The greatest blessing, is knowing the truth and being able to discern the situations I am presented with. Thanks to the guidance of the Holy Ghost, I have been saved from much pain and suffering and granted insight and wisdom, especially in situations that would leave someone hurt, let alone traumatized. The hardest challenge of this walk is to accept the fact that I know very little, and consistently take up the posture of a student, always in the presence of the Master. Once one experience is completed, the time to move forward to a new challenge always opens.
2) When you were 5 years old a priest prayed and God restored your hearing, can you talk about how that impacted your devotion to Christ? This had a tremendous impact on my relation to both Christ and the world as I experienced it. I can recall to mind the experiences that Augustine had expressed in his confessions relating to escaping the pollutions of the world in his youth. For me, having been deaf, allowed me to have a childhood of profound silence and stillness, that actually became disrupted by the receipt of hearing. This however enhanced my relationship with Christ, because since then I have ever sought to re-attain that state of stillness and quiet relationship with him, thus allowing me to perceive those things in our day-to-day life that are opposed to accessing that spirit of peace.
3) Your serving in Buffalo at the City Mission right now, what is happening there and how long do you intend to be a part of the community here? During my time with the Buffalo City Mission, a multitude of events are occurring. First and foremost, we are not just building converts in their knowledge and relationship with Christ, but also winning souls over through the witness of those who are faithful servants.
4) What other ministry assignments are you working on?
Currently, we are coordinating the creation of ministerial operations that will provide services to the underserved, as well as other prosperity ministries. This may include a brand new wing of ministry that will be called “Shelter of the Most High” which will be the core of the ministerial formation. Additionally, having successfully completed this establishment, we will be further able to interconnect with other Christian networks locally, regionally & beyond. This will be especially helpful to connecting missions abroad and locally, thus being able to be better beneficiaries to the men and women served by such.
5) Can you talk about your prayer life? My prayer life is quite militant, yet all Christians can engage in such. Besides general prayer, there is a universal book called the Book of Christian Prayer that has a syllabus for almost every denomination out there. Furthermore, it is a psalter, and both lay and clerical can partake in such. This benefits both our immediate surroundings, as well the body of Christ at large.
We also partake in many online prayer circles and request operations, and in the future we could possibly produce a list of such activities and locations. Lastly, we hope to continue to build Buffalo in and through prayer.

DEC/JAN 2012 Digital Preview

Open publication - Free publishing - More buffalo

A Week On The Streets Helps Spread Boxes of Love To Thousands

Pastor Eric Johns (2nd from left) has spent one week every year for the last 13 years living homeless and raising support to help the poor.

On any given night there are between 4,000-7,000 homeless on the streets of Buffalo. Eric Johns by his own choice is one of them every Thanksgiving for the last  13 years. The week of Thanksgiving, from Monday through Saturday he puts aside his earthly comforts and lives on the streets, sleeps under bridges and finds food at various shelters helping to

raise awareness for homelessness as well as raising support for Boxes of Love, an annual outreach that feeds and brings Christmas joy to over 3,000 families in the region. Johns, who pastors The  Buffalo Dream Center, a inner city church that meets at The Buffalo Christian Center says he got the idea for Boxes of Love while driving his ministry van around downtown and asking God how he could help inner city youth enjoy the Christmas season even though many can’t afford it. It was then that he knew that God spoke to him to live homeless, something that he didn’t know would attract almost every media outlet in Buffalo to cover the story causing awareness for what Johns was doing on behalf of the poor of Buffalo to spread near and far. The amount of coverage for his ministry would help put Johns in the center of the conversation around reaching Buffalo for Christ and now Boxes of Love is one of the largest cross denominational inner city and suburban church outreaches in the area.  “I think it is important to draw attention to not just homeless people but people in need. When we have something and we can help I believe it is our duty and responsibility to do something,” said Johns who explained that ministry is about seeing a need and filling the need.

     Johns said shortly after completing his week on the streets that it was the generosity of strangers that touched his heart this year and blessed Johns and his team which included Pastor Pat Fleming of Amherst Church of the Nazarene. Some would recognize Johns from the news stories, some wouldn’t but either way Johns is happy getting the word out and seeing people respond. New this year for Johns was spending a (rainy) night in Niagara Falls, NY calling attention to problems facing not only Buffalo but also our neighbor to the north.

     The ministry now is focusing on  their distribution center on Seneca Street in the Larkin District where Boxes of Love are being sent all over the community. The outreach attracts a network of churches with 15 distribution locations sharing the love of Christ and helping smaller churches reach out to their neighborhoods bringing hope and good news that Jesus saves.

Julie Meyer Calls Church in Buffalo to Unity

Julie Meyer was the guest psalmist at Eagles’ Wings River Conference November 3-5 at Lovejoy Church. Meyer gave a strong word that God was calling his Church in our region to a new level of unity, confirming what many have been sensing. According to Meyer 2012 is a key year to begin walking out a  united effort to win our region for Christ. 

Business Men's Fellowship

Business Men’s Fellowship U.S.A.  hosted a meeting this past October 14 looking to connect kingdom minded business people in the region. Plans are underway for further meetings in the near future.

JBS Kicks Off January 14

The Joseph Business School kicks off their spring semester January 14 at New Creation Fellowship in Cheektowaga, NY. The school is for entrepreneurs and business people wanting to succeed in business God’s way and help fulfill their marketplace calling. For more details or to enroll visit www.jbsbuffalo.com. 

Billy Graham Coming to Buffalo?

Sources say the Billy Graham Evangelical Association is in process of making plans for a $1.5 million dollar crusade in Buffalo. More details to come shortly.

Churches of Western New York "Do Good"

A group of over 350 from four area churches (Zion Dominion, The Chapel, City Church of Batavia, Eastern Hills Wesleyan) sporting lime green “Do Good” shirts converged on Eastern Hills Mall      November 19 with a spontaneous  performance to Lincoln Brewster’s “Glory to God”, then spread throughout the mall committing random acts of kindness in Jesus’ Name to mall shoppers. One act was  handing out over 200 mall gift cards with the following message:  “This season is all about giving.  God gave us everything though His Son, Jesus.  It makes us want to give, too.  Pass this gift on, or use it and be blessed.  Merry Christmas!  From the Churches of WNY”.  The flash mob was the official kick off to a Christmas initiative of the four participating churches called “Do Good”,  which is promoting the simple message: Do something good for God this Christmas.

     The “Do Good” initiative is about empowering individuals and families to prayerfully look for natural ways to spread God’s love in their neighborhoods, workplaces and communities.   This is also not an exclusive “club”, but an invitation to anyone to join forces  with the Churches of WNY in Do Good’s mission:  to transform WNY, one good deed at a time, in Jesus’ Name. Pastor Marty MacDonald of City Church in Batavia said, “What an incredible evening! To see multiple congregations come together for the purpose of serving humanity… I believe that we spread the Good News of Jesus tonight by “Doing good.’”

News: House of Worship EL-Shaddai Opens on Buffalo's West Side

Pastor Migdalia González and husband Wilfredo González gladly invite you to come worship our Lord and Savior together every Sunday at 12 noon at House of Worship EL-Shaddai. The church is a newly established church on Buffalo’s lower West side that has been open to the community for eight months. Worship services are offered in English and Spanish. Each week House of Worship conducts a community outreach event: Brothers United Working for Christ every Thursday, from 5-7 pm, where they provide a hot meal and clothes free of cost.