Cumberland Church Blog

Seeing is "Believin"

We don't have to understand everything to believe in something...do we? After all, the blind man didn't know how Jesus healed him, but he could not deny that He did. We believe, then, that wise men and women practice faith even when things don't make sense. Join us this Sunday morning at 10:00 for part 4 of Andy Stanley's Defining Moments series:  Seeing is Believin.

Music

So if you missed Father's Day here at Cumberland, you missed a guest appearance by 80's rock band The Scorpions. Not really, but you did miss Cumberland's band doing the opening 16 bars of one of their totally kickin' songs. (Rock You Like a Hurricane ring any bells?)  So what's going on this weekend? Well, rumor has it that Billy Idol's leading worship this weekend...or is it Billy Ray Cyrus? I can't remember. Either way, we'll worship loud and proud! The worship set this weekend:

All Because of Jesus (Steve Fee)
Marvelous Light (Charlie Hall)
Let Me Sing (Todd Fields)

Also, you'll catch a glimpse of our upcoming series Twisted!

And remember, during the summer, we have but one service that begins at 10:00am. UpStreet and Waumba will, of course, be available!

See ya Sunday! 

Changin' it up.

New name, new focus. 

Stay tuned for the details!

Who When Where Mawae

This weekend at Cumberland Church we're excited to welcome Kevin Mawae to the platform! Join us this weekend at 9:30 and 11:00 for the passionate message of this 14-year NFL veteran, 6-time Pro Bowler, President of NFL Players Union and starting Center for our Tennessee Titans! Our leadership staff has had the privilege of  hearing Kevin speak and he's as great a communicator as he is a player. And he's as nice a guy as you'd ever want to meet...especially if you're alone in a dark alley somewhere. This is a special opportunity for Cumberland Church and we hope you won't miss it! (And...I'd come early to get a seat.)

Music:

Danny Dukes and the Cumberland Church band will be leading us in worship this weekend. Danny's been with us from the beginning and it's always an amazing worship experience with Danny at the helm! On the order for the weekend:

You Are
You are the Light
Blessed Be Your Name

And hey, there'll be a few surprises "in the air" this weekend, as well. And what would a church service be without a tailgating experience, huh? After both services, hang out and enjoy some hot dogs and treats on us!

Hope to see you Sunday!

Titan's Kevin Mawae @ Cumberland Church, May 18th

Where you been Ed?

Thanks for the emails and concern.  I promise, contrary to Billy's gossiping, I am not dead! 

I've been on the road the past two weeks in Orlando on a family vacation and in Atlanta for the Drive Conference at North Point (thanks to Carlos for the pic!).   GREAT to be back!!

Highlights of my past 2 weeks?  Here you go:

• We took Keegan (6) and Kaylee (3) to the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.  It was really cool to see them "mesmerized" by the Disney experience!  They were old enough to enjoy it which was awesome. The highlight for Kaylee was Cinderella's castle and for Keegan it was Aerosmith's Rock-n-Roll Roller Coaster ride (like father, like son!).
• I used to live in Orlando and it was really cool to be back in the town I lived in for so long.  Neat to see all the cool stuff going on by my old condo by Universal Studios.  GREAT area!
• Karen and I had a GREAT date night dinner at the Loew's Portofino Bay Hotel in the Universal Studios park.  It was like we were in Italy. VERY cool place.  You should check it out.
• Played a lot of Putt-Putt with Keegan and my Father-in-Law this week.  I'm thinking about going on tour. ;>)
• Made a very LONG and depressing drive back from Orlando to Nashville in 1 day.  Long because it took 11 and 1/2 hours with two sad kids who wanted to be back at Disney.  Depressing because I drove through Atlanta on Saturday night only to turn around the next day and drive back for the Drive Conference.  Who says being a pastor isn't difficult and sacrificing!? 
• Drive Conference was really incredible this year.  325 folks from North Point's Strategic Partnership world and another 2,025 church leaders from around the world.  It was cool to see so many different denominations (and even a Catholic Church, wow!) there worshiping God, taking communion together and learning how together we can change our communities for the cause of Christ by creating irresistible ministry environments that lead to life-change.  Very cool.
• You can tell the staff, and in particular Andy, had put a lot of thought, creativity and legwork into this thing.  I think Andy's 3 main sessions were some of his best material to date.
• Got to hang out with some of the bravest and most inspiring people I know...the 15 other North Point Strategic Partner church plant teams.  Love these guys!  Always enjoy catchin' up with everyone.  Love our team.
  
• My big takeaway from Drive?  I'm wrestling hard in my mind with Andy's quote, "To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing".  As a church planter who wants to make a difference in my community and reach people far off from God, I know I have to keep challenging myself to discover and be willing to try new things to accomplish what I've been called to do here in Nashville....lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

More later.  Glad to be back!! 

Talk to you more soon!

Choosing to Cheat

Each day we decide how to spend our time. But because there is rarely enough time to do everything that needs getting done, some things get cheated. We need to learn to trust God to fill in the gaps at work and begin to give our loyalty to those at home. This ring true with anyone out there...besides me? Join us this Sunday as we conclude Andy's Taking Care of Business series with part 6: Leaving Early.

Music:

As always, this portion of the worship experience will be brought to you by the Cumberland Church band. Truly a rocking set on the production order for this Sunday :

Salvation is Here
Marvelous Light
Jesus Paid it All

(And we may even have a little diddy for all you Moms out there.)

AUDITIONS:

If you're ready to lead worship or sing bgvs, play the guitar, bass or drums, or any other instrument for that matter, we'll be holding auditions here at the church on Tuesday, May 20th starting at 6:00. Email me, Billy, at billy@cumberlandonline.org for more information. Got skills? Then let's see 'em! We'd love to have you come out to be a part of what's going on here!

Paying Your Dues

God has established authority, and He works through it to direct and protect us. He often uses nonspiritual or unjust authority to accomplish His will. Our response to authority is our response to God. Wow. Never heard your boss put in that context before? Check out part 5 of Andy Stanley's Taking Care of Business, Paying Your Dues, this Sunday at Cumberland Church. If I were your boss, I'd order you to come this Sunday. Sadly, I'm not your boss. But since I work at your church - that should be reason enough, right?

Music:

Sweet mother may I! Super excited about the musical worship experience this weekend. New friend Chris Moerman, hailing from Tennessee, but originally fighting out of corner down under - Australia! Join Chris and the Cumberland band for an awesome set of worship! This week:

God is with Us (from our buddy Michael Olson)
Let me Sing (from friend Todd Fields)
Majesty (from somebody, somewhere)

Speaking of Music:

AUDITIONS WILL BE HELD FOR THE CUMBERLAND CHURCH BAND ON THE EVENING OF TUESDAY, MAY 20. If anyone's told you that you're a seriously awesome and rocking musician or singer with "choice chops or licks" - other than your mom, girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse -  this could be for you! We're accepting auditions for all positions as well as for engineers. Hey, if you've got skills, let's see them.

For copies of the audition music and more details on the event, write Billy at billy@cumberlandonline.org.

Going Public

Christianity is not supposed to be personal and private; we are to be lights in the darkness. Our light shines best when our character is developed to reflect God. People will see that our faith is about a relationship, not a religion. Join us this Sunday for part 4 of Taking Care of Business: Going Public.

Music:

This week we're privileged to have friend Michael Spooner and the Cumberland band lead worship for us. Check with Michael for other opportunities to worship with him here in the Nashville area. He's always playing somewhere! This week, we'll be worshiping through the following set:

Faithful (Steve Fee)
Beautiful One (Tim Hughes)
How Great Thou Art (You've got to know this one, right?)

Hope to see you Sunday!

Billy

Thoughts from the Bayou...

Had a GREAT time in Baton Rouge this past weekend hangin' out with Billy, Bruce and Kevin Mawae.  Kevin was the opening speaker at Healing Place Church's 1st Men's Conference.  We had a GREAT time hangin' in the Bayou with Kevin and the incredible team at Healing Place Church.  Billy already posted his big takeaway below, but here's my takeaways from a fantastic weekend in Baton Rouge:

• LSU - Kevin gave us a "behind-the-scenes" tour of the LSU campus, Tiger Stadium (Death Valley) and the new football facilities.  All I can say is WOW!  Football is serious business at LSU.  Amazing!  It was really cool getting to meet Coach Miles and hearing him and Kevin chat.  We stayed the weekend at Kevin's in-laws and were treated like royalty.  Had the best Etouffee and Mississippi Mud Pie I've ever had.  Gained a few pounds I'm sure.
• Coach McCartney - read Billy's post below.  The guy is simply an amazing, inspiring leader.  It was really cool to be able to personally tell Coach Mac the impact of the ministry he started (Promise Keepers) played in my life.  PK was a key experience for me that help lead me towards leaving the marketplace and going into full-time ministry.  It was a very special conversation that I'll remember for a long time.  Love Coach Mac.
• Kevin -  Brother knocked it out of the park with his opening message at the Men's Conference.  He shared how as men we all are looking for the "WOW" experience from God and Kevin gave an insightful look into what He thinks that looks like for us.  WOW represents us being: (1) Willing (2) Obedient and (3) resilient to do Whatever He asks us to do.  Kevin is bringing the message here at Cumberland Church on May 18th and after hearing him this weekend, I can't wait to hear what he's going to bring for us.  Gotta love Kevin's passion for life and focus for God's Kingdom.  It's contagious.
• The guys at Healing Place Church - dudes are incredible.  Love that church.  Thanks Mike, Mark, Dino, Lee and Julio. You guys rock!  Thanks for making our time there so much fun.  We're learned a ton by hanging out with you guys.  Without a doubt, Healing Place is the best serving-minded church I've ever been around.  Look forward to the continued friendship.

Dino Rizzo (Lead Pastor at Healing Place) gave a great review of the Men's Conference you can check out here.  And Kevin gave a really good recap of our weekend as well here.  Thanks to everyone for a fun, challenging and refreshing time away.  Loved it and needed it.

A Buffalo stands and prays for Miles

Les Miles, that is. And the buffalo that's standing up and praying for him is Coach Bill McCartney - the all-time winningest coach in Colorado Buffalo history. Let me preface this post with a slight bias. I'm a huge Buff fan as well as a huge Coach Mac fan - you can't be the former and not be the latter. You may remember the National Championship in the '89 - '90 season, "the Catch" against Michigan in the '94 season, Promise Keepers, a  few books here and there, The Road to Jerusalem...but you won't likely have heard this story.

Coach Mac has the distinct honor of having 10 coaches - who coached under him - go on to become head coaches themselves. Undoubtedly, each talented on their own merit, but each benefiting from having had Coach Mac pour into their lives, as well. Not just as coaches, but as men. Care about the coach, but love the man underneath the cap. And one of these men is Coach Les Miles of the LSU Tigers.

(Fast forward to last weekend...) I attended a men's conference in Baton Rouge at which Coach McCartney and Kevin Mawae were guest speakers. (Kevin blew it out of the water, by the way. Solid, dude.)  Little did I know how much of an investment was being made - still today - by Coach Mac into the life of friend and former assistant coach Les Miles. Coach Mac formed a group of 30 men, called Miles Men dedicated to covering Coach Miles, his family, and his program with 3 years of prayer...3 years of daily prayer! Does that kind of prayer covering exist for your school's program? How about your home? Or your church, even? Three years solid. Lip service, maybe? No. You don't get lip service from a man who's read and studied his Bible every day for 35 years. What?! We were fortunate enough on this trip to witness a prayer breakfast for Coach Miles given by the Miles Men. Say what you will about the "business" of college football, but there's another side. There are men who care more about the leaders than the victories. Who'd prefer to see those leaders covered with prayer before dollars. Who have no problem getting on their hands and knees at the feet of Les Miles and pray for all that's important to the man.  I've never been more full after a breakfast than I was that morning and I didn't eat a thing. 

I'm not necessarily an LSU fan, unless Kevin's around of course, ('Sup Kev?), but I'm a fan of Coach Miles to be sure. While standing in his office, Kevin mentioned that I was huge fan of Coach Mac's and I then pulled my Buff's cap out of my pocket. I told him out of respect for him and the LSU program, I opted not to wear it while in the building. He smiled, shook my hand, and said, "I once used to wear that cap, too."

And who would know, years and years later, now the Head Coach of the 2007 National Championship LSU Tigers, the influence of the greatest Buff would still be in his life, standing up for him, and covering him  in prayer - daily. "Love the man under the cap." Indeed.

Gaux Tigers! Go Buffs!