Owner: Josh Via URL:www.joshvia.com Join Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 12:02:14 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The travel guide to the ministry of Josh and Tasha Via. Posts include ministry highlights, worship set lists, spiritual and family experiences and devotional thoughts from the Word of God... and of course the occasional video disclosing family mayhem. Site statistics:Click here
My Daddy is On My Way 2008-02-25 08:29:00 Here's Rainy's rendition of "King on His Way." I'm not sure whether she means "My Daddy
is on His Way" or "My Daddy is in my Way" or exactly what she's hinting at. Nevertheless, she's a natural with the microphone (or more accurately, flashphone). Enjoy on your Monday morning!
Where is God? 2008-02-24 09:55:00 I just finished Where is God? A great book by John Feinberg, professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, about how he dealt with and processed his wife's battle with Huntington's Disease. As he watched his wife deteriorate mentally and physically over many years of marriage, he finally came to a point where he put into writing some of the things he was dealing with as a follower of Christ struggling to make sense of seemingly needless pain and suffering--a question that we've all dealt, or will deal with, at some point in our lives.One of the best takeaways from the book was John's explanation that more often than not what the sufferer needs is not a philosophical discussion about the problem of evil, but rather pastoral care. Here he used a great analogy:Think of a little girl wh
Flashback: Carman 2008-02-22 19:22:00 Confession time! As a pre-teen, I owned every one of Carman's cassette tapes to date. I had them chronologically categorized in their own special leather tape case. Oh yea, I was the man!
What Did Your Parents Do Right? 2008-02-21 15:54:00 Usually when people find out that I am the oldest of five kids and that we were pastor’s kids and pastor’s kids are indisputably and historically the worst kinds of kids to roam the planet, yet now all five of us are, in some form or fashion, involved in a Christian vocation or ministry, they ask this question, “What did your parents do right?” It never fails. Every time. People want to know the secret. People want to know what magic formula my parents used or what they laced in our Cheerios as kids to ensure that we would turn out the way they hoped and prayed for. It’s a question that never gets any easier to answer, because I can never pinpoint just one thing. Because that’s always it, isn’t it? Human nature. We want to know the one thing—the one secret. But Read more:Parents
, Right
The Fourth Floor Smells Like Dirty Socks or Something 2008-02-19 09:52:00 One semester while I was in college, I did a volunteer internship at a local hospital as a chaplain. Every Sunday afternoon, I would stroll the fourth floor with my guitar and Bible singing and sharing Scripture and encouragement with folks who needed to smile. The fourth floor was reserved for senior citizens, so as a 20-year-old college junior, I felt right at home. That was sarcastic. The emanating smells were beautiful and fragrant like lilies in the spring. No. The sights were glorious and majestic like the pristine waters of the Caribbean Sea. Not quite. Some days it was really hard to drive out there and do my thing. Some of the folks were bitter and hard. Life had dealt them a bad hand and they wanted me to know all about it. They wanted me to taste a small dose of the b Read more:Floor
, Smells
, Socks
Story Time with Rainy 2008-02-18 10:46:00 Rainy is learning the art of story-telling - an art that I haven't quite learned, but she is teaching me. She's got it down.Rule #1 - Be excited about your subject material. Rule #2 - Be able to relate the material to your audience.Rule #3 - Hold the book so that others can see it.Rule #4 - Must be able to make animal sounds.Rule #5 - Be as darn cute as humanly possible! Read more:Story Time
Slightly Untrodden 2008-02-17 22:04:00 Today we finished up our stint at SouthPointe Fellowship in Pageland, SC this morning. Rev Kev preached from Gen. 4 about the sin of pride - a great challenge.We finished out the day at Ridge Church tonight. Great video message by Louie Giglio on the Indescribable nature of God.Ridge Setlist:1. Happy Day (Tim Hughes)2. Our Love is Loud (Crowder)3. Indescribable (Tomlin)4. Mighty to Save (Hillsong)With no lead guitarist at Ridge tonight, I was a little skeptical, but Tasha came through in a huge way. She learned all of the lead guitar parts on violin and it sounded SWEEEET! We've got to be paving new ground in the music arena with that! Well, at least slightly untrodden.
The Perfect Idea for Church Attentiveness 2008-02-15 22:19:00 I remember as PK's (pastor's kids) growing up, my younger brother, Smooth, and I had a contest going each and every Sunday. Too old for children's church, we'd be forced to sit through "big church" and pay attention. Being as we were too old for children's church and therefore too old for coloring books in the service, and though filling in the hoops of letters found in the bulletin (such as "O" and "P" and "Q") was fun for awhile, we were left wondering what heavenly distraction we could concoct to occupy our time and simultaneously not bring too much of mom's attention to ourselves. We found the perfect thing.We decided that we would listen to Dad's sermon!Brilliant!Actually, no, that's only half-true.We decided to listen with the intention of keeping a running tally of particular wor Read more:Perfect
, Church
Graveyards are Not Cool Places for Having Fun - Gaston Christian is 2008-02-15 21:38:00 When I turned on my computer a few minutes ago after just arriving at home from a full day of ministry and fun (not that the two are in contradistinction and not that ministry is not fun - on the contrary, ministry is always fun, well, most always fun, except when you have to have a "conversation" with the parent of a youth who was caught in the graveyard of the church having his kind of "fun," but that's another story, and thankfully a scenario I don't have to deal with anymore being as I'm not currently a youth pastor - back to the original thought, though, in this case I was only referring to even more fun that was had after a day of ministry ... oh, never mind) I found one of the most encouraging e-mails in my inbox that I've had in a long time. It came from one of my dear friends fro Read more:Places
, Having
, Christian
, Having Fun
Wednesday Mornings Hurt Now 2008-02-14 07:58:00 We had another amazing night at CharlotteONE on Tuesday night. The Return Worship Band knocked it out of the park. I'm so blessed to work with such talented individuals (even though they're all single and young and constantly ragging on me for being an old married man. But I can take it. They're just jealous that I married such a hottie for a wife. And on that point I must concur!).Dave Edwards from Oklahoma City came and brought the Word to us. He preached on knowing and living out the will of God from 1 Corinthians 16:1-8. - a powerful message that was right on target for the C1 crowd.Our set included:1. Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee (Charlie Hall arrangement)2. How Awesome is the Lord Most High (Chris Tomlin)3. All Because of Jesus (Steve Fee)4. You Never Let Go (Matt Redman)5. Ce Read more:Wednesday
, Mornings
Socks and Sunday 2008-02-12 08:47:00 As is true for anyone in ministry, Sunday
s are crazy for us. After a great day back at SouthPointe Fellowship in the morning, it was nice to have a Sunday evening at home.This is Zeke just prior to naptime on Sunday. His toddler perspiration combined with his socks reacted like water and Quickcrete! There was a permanent hardening effect going on that even Dad had a hard time breaking loose.Sunday was a great day. Our set included:1. Marvelous Light (Charlie Hall)2. Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee (From Passion Hymns)3. How Great is Our God (Chris Tomlin)4. Lord, You Are/What a Priceless Gift! (Traditional praise song w/ addit. chorus added by me) Read more:Socks
The Road 2008-02-09 20:59:00 "The road of the disciples is narrow. It is easy to go past it; it is easy to miss it; it is easy to lose it, even for those who have already walked it. It is hard to find. The path is narrow indeed; there is a real danger of falling off on both sides." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
A Simple Thought 2008-02-07 15:30:00 What if every success in your life couldn't be pinpointed to anything you had done? What if every one of your accomplishments were not yours to take credit for? What if the plan that you thought you designed and then put into action wasn't your doing at all? Perhaps it was God, instead. His favor. His design. His power. His right hand. His mighty arm. The light of His countenance.3 For they did not take the land by their sword— their arm did not bring them victory— but by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You were pleased with them. Psalms 44:3 (HCSB) Read more:Simple
Football Family 2008-02-04 10:04:00 The last few minutes of the Superbowl as a family! We have cute kids! This I can't deny!(to the tune of "They are Night Zombies ..." by Sufjan Stevens)
Read more:Football
, Family
Recaps 2-3-08 2008-02-03 13:10:00 Today, Tasha and I had the privilege to be back at Southbrook Church (it's been since Christmas Eve, I think). And it was awesome. Pastor Rob Singleton began a new series called Friends with Benefits. It was good stuff. Tough subject material dealing with relationships. Much needed for all of us. And he handled it well.The band rocked. Andy Cherry, Nate Bryan, and Brandon Hiller - these guys keep me on my toes. I feel so privileged to play with this caliber of talent.We opened up with:1. All Because of Jesus - a great tune off the newest Steve Fee album. Deals with the truth that Jesus is the only reason we live and move and have our being. The naysayers of modern worship need to read the lyrics to the chorus of this song, "It's all because of Jesus I'm alive, it's all because th
No title 2008-01-26 11:35:00 This past Tuesday, Tasha and I were privileged to join with our friends from Return Worship to lead CharlotteONE, a college and young adult gathering in downtown Charlotte. CharlotteONE was started as a tool to reach the young professionals of Charlotte. C1 is a parachurch organization that strategically partners with local churches and their already existing or non-existing college ministries. David Hickman, the founder and the brains behind C1, invited Return to lead this Spring semester and what a huge honor it is!If you're in the Charlotte area, come out every Tuesday night to First United Methodist Church at 7 pm to experience the movement of God happening with C1.This week we played:1. I Am Free (Desperation Band)2. Here is our King (David Crowder)3. Marvelous Light (Charlie Hall)
Flashback Friday: Nile River Baptisms 2008-01-25 22:18:00 This day marks 1 of the top 5 best days of my life. During one of my 3 trips to Uganda, Africa (2004) I had the privilege of baptizing a bunch of new believers who were saved in the church that my brother, Smooth, and I started in a village 3 years earlier (2001). And we baptized them right there in the Nile River
in Jinja, Uganda. It was an incredible day! Words can't express the feeling of returning to the church 3 years later and see it exploding at the seams with new believers. We praise God for the work still going on in Uganda even after the horrific struggles they've experienced in the past 30 years. Read more:Friday
Enter the Worship Circle 2008-01-22 14:11:00 Just finished Enter the Worship Circle
by Ben Pasley. Ben is a worship leader, song writer and creative writer. The book is evangelistically driven, with hopes that an unbeliever will pick it up and be hooked because of the spiritual hunger of this generation. His main goal is to argue that the spiritual hunger in every soul is placed there by the one true and living God, Jesus Christ, whom should be the center and focus of our worship. His creative style (using 7 different perspectives, or voices), and quick easy-to-read chapters add to the book's ability to hook you and makes for great toilet reading.Overall, a great read and I only came away with 2 criticisms:1. He's a bit too mystical for my taste. It's obvious that he comes from a tradition that places a lot of stock in prophetic
"Never Alone" 2008-03-11 10:50:00 "Never Alone" by Barlow GirlRidge Church, Sunday, March 9, 2008
The Edge & Ridge 2008-03-11 09:45:00 This past Sunday was another full day of ministry. In the morning we led worship at Carmel Baptist's The Edge service at 9:30 and 11:00, filling in for Heath Nestor. It was a great time. They are in the middle of a series called Un-Christian (based on the book by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons) that deals with the common perceptions of Christianity in our culture.We played:1. O, Worship the King (trad. Passion hymns)2. Marvelous Light/O Praise Him-medley (Charlie Hall, David Crowder)3. Center (Charlie Hall)4. From the Inside Out (Hillsong)In the evening we were back at Ridge Church landing in the middle of their new series called The Legend of Joe Jacobson (principles from the life of Joseph). It was an amazing night and as always, Rusty Burchard had the stage looking phenomenal!We play
Flashback Friday: Hamsters in our Midst 2008-03-14 20:15:00 As kids, my brothers and I had countless pets. Dogs. Cats. Hermit Crabs. Hamsters
. You name it. The present subject of this post involves the hamsters. They have some very special memories attached to them. We bought four to start with. 2 males and 2 females. Within about 2 weeks we had about 47, which is only a slight exaggeration. Madness most definitely ensued. They took over our house. (Please don't relay to PETA what I'm about to describe!).One night the cage door to our VW Bug-sized monstrosity of a hamster cage was conveniently left open for our furry friends. The next morning, we awakened not to 47 hamsters, but to maybe a dozen (the few who would have connected to me heart-to-heart in my love for sleep had God made me a hamster). The other 35 or so were now walking t Read more:Friday
Charlotte One Acoustic Set 2008-03-13 20:58:00 CharlotteONE this week:Acoustic
set with me and Tasha, Andy Cherry and Sarah Scott:1. Come and Listen (David Crowder)2. I Could Sing of Your Love Forever (Delirious, Martin Smith)3. Sing to the King (Billy Foote)4. He is Exalted (Twila Paris, Shane and Shane version)5. I Stand Amazed in the Presence (trad. hymn)6. Marvelous Light (Charlie Hall)7. Yearn (Shane and Shane)8. Awesome God (Rich Mullins)9. Our God Reigns (Delirious, Martin Smith) Read more:Charlotte
Unmistakable Emphasis 2008-03-17 13:53:00 I read this verse this morning, a verse that I’ve read probably fifty times before, with different eyes. It was one of those moments where the thing I had been looking at for hours finally came into focus. (like those cursed 3-D images from the 90s that took over every kiosk in every mall in America. They never worked for me, so I don’t know how well it fits as an analogy. Nonetheless …) It finally came into focus for me. Psalm 100:3 - Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. What became astounding to me in this verse is the unmistakable emphasis upon God—the Lord—the Creator—the Maker—the Shepherd—the Life-Giver. None of these titles or functions
Palm Sunday Recap 2008-03-17 12:42:00 Awesome day yesterday! In the AM we led worship at Parkwood Baptist Church. Pastor Jeff Long and I have had a ton of mutual friends over the years, but it wasn't until about 2 weeks ago that we finally met. He's an awesome man of God doing a great work at Parkwood. We're privilege to be able to help them out for a few Sunday
s in the near future as they are in the search process for a worship pastor.We led with their existing praise band and they did a phenomenal job reading and following me.Parkwood Playlist:1. Joyful, Joyful (trad. Charlie Hall version)2. Hosanna (Paul Baloche)3. Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners (trad.)4. Come Thou Fount (trad.)5. Jesus, Paid It All (trad. Passion version)6. Hope of My Heart (Via)We finished up the day at Ridge Church last night as they concluded their Read more:Recap
Family Holy Week Part 2 2008-03-19 14:08:00 Last night before bed, we had our family devotions out on the back deck. To illustrate the new life that we have as believers in Jesus through His death, burial and resurrection, we decided to let the kids help us plant some flower seeds in potting soil. It's always a great feeling you get as a parent when you're trying to drive home a spiritual and biblical point to your child and when you ask them what the point is, they stare at you blankly like you're speaking ancient Gaelic. Well, they say (I've often wondered who "they" really are, or is? until Wikipedia cleared it up for me: " 'They' refers to the masses of those who are among the pop culture. 'They' quote sayings of individuals who could put complex events in to understandable context; believing that what 'they' have just quote Read more:Family
Family Holy Week Part 1 2008-03-18 09:41:00 For the most part, my generation has been one that has disregarded church traditions and viewed them as meaningless and nothing but religiosity. In many ways, they're right. But I think we've thrown the baby out with the bath water. I can't say that I haven't done the same. Growing up Southern Baptist, traditional forms of high church worship and symbolism within Christianity have been somewhat foreign to me. And as religiously routine as they can become, I think there are some good things that can come from them.This being Holy Week, Tasha and I have been researching and thinking of our own ways that we could celebrate this week within our own family, finding creative ways to teach our children the importance of the death and resurrection of Christ--perhaps not totally high church, b Read more:Family
Resurrection Songs 2008-03-20 13:57:00 As I mentioned in Part 1 of this blog series, the little Resurrection
ditties that I've been writing this week for my kids are now up and ready for your free downloading pleasure right here ("My Jesus" and "Jesus Got Up"). For those of you who are so inclined to scoff at my efforts to produce children's worship songs (however feeble they may be), you probably don't have kids, so you probably wouldn't understand. Nonetheless, my tender heart is laid bare and vulnerable before you as I open up our living room to the company of your listening ears, CD player or iPod. Don't crush it too badly. Still, my kids really like them (I guess that's what matters), so perhaps there are some other kids out there who will benefit from them as well. Enjoy!
Family Holy Week Part 3 2008-03-20 13:30:00 Typically in Jewish families, the Wednesday before Easter is set aside for the menial duties of cleaning the house in preparation for the Passover. Of course, we're not Jewish, but I love the idea of having a day of cleaning and preparation to prepare for the event--not only in the physical sense of the word, but in the spiritual sense as well. As we took time to clean the house as a family yesterday, we tried to emphasize to the kids that what we were doing on the outside was a reflection of what should be happening on the inside--that we should desire to have clean hands and a pure heart before the Lord, and not just in preparation for Easter, but every day of our lives. (Check out Rainy's vacuum cleaner. Only state-of-the-art equipment for my employees!) Read more:Family
Family Holy Week Part 4 2008-03-22 15:34:00 On Thursday night during our devotion time, the kids sat down in the living room floor long enough for me to read a portion of John 13, the night before Jesus went to the cross. The event? When Jesus washed His disciples' feet. The purpose? To show that He came to serve, and to be the servant of all. Footwashing was a humbling act, performed only by slaves. Yet, Jesus did it. Jesus stooped down to wash the grimy feet of His disciples. He demonstrated the heart of a servant. The servant King. That's who Jesus was. That's who Jesus is.To reinforce the Word to our kids, we wet a rag and took turns washing each other's feet. They loved it. Whether it entirely clicked for them or not, I can't be sure, but for all intents and purposes, at least we had clean feet before bedtime. It w Read more:Family
Six Years of Marital Bliss 2008-03-26 15:47:00 Tasha and I celebrated 6 years of marriage on Easter Sunday. It was awesome to be able to sit back and worship with my family at their home church in Roanoke, VA (Green Ridge Baptist Church) and then spend the next 2 days with my beautiful bride while my parents graciously took the kids. I'm convinced that free babysitting is a small taste of heaven on earth. And since it's free, I conveniently turn a blind eye to my dad's stereotypical grandpaish ability to feed the kids endless amounts of delights from the sugar food group, and being Easter, there was no small amount of yumminess to be had (And my mom wonders why Rainy won't eat her meals. Hmm ...) But Tasha has no problem giving my dad a piece of her mommy mind (in a loving, Christian way) when she feels that he's reached the point Read more:Years
, Bliss
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