I had an amazing time partnering with my brother Josh (and my mom!), leading the services at Vintage Faith in Santa Cruz. Josh shared a message, which I intertwined with songs and stories, and our mom led an interactive art experience where people come forward and placed a piece of broken pottery into a new mosaic. God was felt in awesome, unique ways in all three services. It was an honor to be a part!

To see more of what Josh is up to at Vintage Faith, visit www.vintagechurch.org

We also took the time that afternoon to sit down for a two hour recorded discussion on the services, how God’s led us here, and how art, music, and the venue play a major role in our faith gatherings. I’m hoping to make it available as podcast episodes soon…

Hello friends—

I pray you’re all settling into ‘08 with a sense of hope in God’s redemptive journey ahead. It’s going to be a great ride - thanks for stumbling along with me!

Could I share three prayer requests with you at the beginning of this year?

1 ::: The DVD will be here in a week! Please pray God uses it in big ways!

2 ::: We are hoping to record a new CD in the next couple of months. We’re praying for finances, schedules, and
God’s hand on the music!

3 ::: Please pray our concert calendar fills just as God wants, and that He grants me His peace and wisdom in the process…

For those of you who have not heard of our year of faith, I’ve included the explanation letter below; “A New Journey”. God provided for us miraculously last year – growing and stretching us along the way. There’s been tough moments for sure, but we love the adventure and don’t ever want to look back! We’re diving into this new year’s calendar with the same conviction not to ask for any specific honorarium amounts or financial agreements…ever. It’s so thrilling surrendering and trusting that area to God in this unique way! So, if your church’s financial situation has prevented you from partnering with us, may it no longer! Contact me, and let’s dream together…

Thanks for your prayers and partnership!!!

Justin

A New Journey

Around November of ‘06, my wife and I felt a nudge from the Lord to trust Him even more with our finances. I’d always felt like I was “walking by faith” in that area all these years, but God showed us how we had fallen into some subtle patterns of looking to churches, pastors, and individuals to be our “providers”. Passages in the Bible, our church’s Give Yourself Away campaign, and missionary stories from Corrie ten Boom and others began to fuel the flame for a deeper faith adventure, and we took the leap! We gathered our family together, and decided to surrender to the Lord our monthly budget, our home, our cars, and everything else we think we “need” in order to be free to pursue what GOD wants in our lives. It’s been an exhilarating journey!

One of the first things we decided to do was to no longer ask for any specific amount of money from churches for ministry engagements. It’s been fun! Pastors are stunned…unsure…encouraged… and then excited! I love the scheduling process now more than ever, and my calendar has been filling fast. So far, God has been providing for us through Spirit-led offerings and honorariums, meeting our normal budget just as before, but these days it feels so different: It’s all coming straight from Him, without me messing it up somewhere in the middle, and it’s so thrilling seeing God in action!

We’ve also been challenged to take even greater risks by giving away more money. Above our regular tithe and missionaries we support, we decided to donate a portion of our CD sales to Iris Ministries; an orphanage in Mozambique, Africa. It’s been awesome being able to provide calling cards, a washer and dryer, and 40 pairs of shoes… and we can’t wait to see what’s next!

This whole journey has brought a new sense of thankfulness for His gifts and goodness. My heart is light with fresh air, new songs, and a priceless freedom. Thanks for letting me share this with you! I just wish I would’ve figured this stuff out sooner, and I know there’s more learning ahead. Our future mission trips, CD releases and ministry dates have been completely given over to the Lord in a new radical way. Please pray along with us that we continue to honor Him at every turn…

With open hands,

The Foxes

OK, I survived New Year’s (600 balloons falling on me!) and the holidays, and I’m finally getting back into the groove. It’s been a mellow ‘08 so far, to be honest. I’m spending some great time with the fam, and having some memorable conversations with God, as well. Some of my prayers have been in response to this challenging verse in Luke. Before I unvail it, let me set it up a bit, cool?

OK -finding your true self- It’s THE quest, right? Finding Yourself. For some, it’s the search of a lifetime. Here’s what Jesus has to say:

(Luke 9:23-…in the Message) “Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from suffering; EMBRACE it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-SACRIFICE is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your TRUE self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?”

Is that CRAZY????! Embrace suffering? Ditch all “self-help” and go for self-sacrifice instead??? What about striving for and thinking into existence all the things we want? On the contrary, Jesus says getting all the things we want could be dangerous…in fact, it could veer us off track so much, we’d LOSE YOURSELVES.

I’m really wrestling with this! Every human instinct in me tells me to go the other way, but the truth is God wants to do something good in my life as I “embrace suffering”. What does that even look like?

Well, that’s a little window into my spiritual dialogue these days… I know God’s up to something…the journey is never boring!

See you on the road—

Justin

It’s New Year’s Eve, and I’m resting up for my midnight gig tonight…

(even though the date to the right says “1/01″…is this Y2K???)

(starting to stockpile some water now…)

Anyway, the family and I are up here in Nor Cal, staying with relatives, playing Guitar Hero, Webkinz, Tamagotchi…everyone still in their pajamas and socks…definitely experiencing “down time” at it’s finest!

I’m reflecting on the eve of the new year ahead, and actually struck by the faithful, unchanging nature of God! Just like you, I actually have NO IDEA what the new year holds (or what next week looks like for that matter), but I feel comforted by the simple fact that in this season of change, we get to experience a love that never changes. God’s ridiculous, undeserved favor toward us is a constant reason to wake up in the morning. Everyday He’s there. He’s excited to lovingly lead us toward REAL LIFE…His song is playing…He’s ready to teach us the steps to the dance…

…and He’ll be there tomorrow.

Nothing’s changed.

Happy New Year!

You’ve probably gotten sick of me by now mentioning over and over to everyone I meet this new book; The Shack. Well, yah, it’s awesome, and the author just happens to actually be a very cool guy! We started talking over some emails, and an amazing, out of the blue but very genuine friendship formed by God’s grace. Cool stuff. So, I’m on tour in the Northwest with a free Saturday morning and a borrowed car. I realize I’m pretty close to where he lives in Gresham, OR, and I invite myself over for breakfast! It’s crazy, but somehow he accepts!!! We actually meet at this funky diner and have an incredible time talking and getting to know each other over some weak coffee and great omelets. He has an amazing, jaw dropping, heart wrenching personal story. It was beyond inspiring to be in a face to face discussion with this guy. He’s a walking miracle and testament to God’s grace, goodness, and power. I’m still processing the deep stuff we talked about; like how God is not “present” in the future - but present in the NOW, how real Freedom is discovered, how God loves everyone uniquely and particularly, how God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit - the whole gang - are INSIDE me…hmmm…. Buy ME breakfast sometime and I’ll tell you more! …and READ The Shack!!!

No, seriously…order that book below!!! YOU WON’T REGRET IT!!!!!! You’ll thank me…

This is it! I’m only going to recommend one book this summer,
and here it is:

A mentor-friend of mine told me about this book, so I ordered it immediately, and I am so glad I did! This is an amazing novel that you will be UNABLE TO PUT DOWN, yet God has been using it to actually touch many deeply. Reading it, I sensed God’s love in fresh, profound ways - my heart melted anew for my kids and family - and my God came CLOSE, His warm embrace unable to shake off…I am still reeling from the experience…

YOU’VE GOT TO READ IT!!! You order it from this link:

http://theshackbook.com/order.html

Tell me what you think!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D6c40WzpSI]So, John and I are at the top of Nevada Falls a few weeks ago, and I just had to hold my camera over the cliff. This fall was RAGING at full flood…the thunder of it was booming…it was a jaw-dropping site. This is just one of the thousands of ways God likes to show off! He’s speaking to me a lot these days about His kind of “beauty”. I’m starting to share more about this in concert, so I’ll keep the thoughts rolling here…  This is the “intro video”——-