The post Everything you need to know about the 2024 Mass. ballot questions appeared first on Boston.com.

This is not about promoting a song, but a posture of the heart…Let the church rise up and say “Whatever You Want”. 

Whatever You Want
Written by Michael Farren and Josh Alltop
Recorded by CHURCHOUSE - Gateway Franklin Church

Lyric Video: https://youtu.be/SDJcMAsmi_w
Free Chord Charts: https://www.weareworship.com/us/songs-2/song-library/showsong/7420
Get Song on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/whatever-you-want-live/id1098023380

It makes perfect sense to all who know Sarah Reeves that she is where she is and doing what she is doing. But the journey it took to get her here has not been an easy or uneventful one. I got the chance to visit with Sarah about her recent single release, Nowhere, and God’s ongoing story in her life.

Having been raised in the church and music industry by her record producer father and mother, a nurse, at the age of 15 Sarah encountered the presence of God in a way she never had before. She knew at that moment that He was calling her into a life of music and ministry. She dove head first into leading worship within her local church and by 18 was signed to a label and touring the country leading worship. After some time, she met and married her husband, Philip Kothlow, and decided for a season to step out of music and sort of discover herself and “live some real life . . . away from music”. She took a job working as a preschool teacher and Philip was an electrician at the time. A couple of years into marriage, she found herself in a place she never thought she’d be.

“About three years ago . . . I remember us just reaching this point in our marriage where we were facing wall after wall, and struggle after struggle. We came to this place where we found ourselves on the verge of divorce and we knew at that point we had to make a drastic change. We were both working full-time jobs . . . and we decided to step away from those. We went away and really just kind of started over. Focused on each other. Focused on God and putting Him at the center of our marriage. We learned how to be married and fell in love all over again. During that time . . . I started putting out YouTube covers and slowly God started to open up doors again into music. Things were really starting to happen. He had redeemed our marriage and now he was redeeming my artistry again. What I thought was over was just beginning.”

Today, Philip is Sarah’s manager and together they are storming back with a fresh perspective on music and a renewed passion for worship.  Nowhere dropped April 7th in anticipation of her full album release with Word Records in the fall.

When talking about the direction of this new project Sarah said, “God has given me this specific sound . . . but there’s always been this inner battle between being a worship leader and being an artist. There’s this style that I love but I felt the pressure to always keep it straight down the middle if I wanted to be a worship leader. About a year and a half ago, a friend sent me a track . . . and I wrote this song to it that I just loved and something in me came alive in that moment. Through that song I found so much clarity as if God said, ‘Sarah, I’ve given you this sound and you don’t have to choose . . . I’ve given you this gift for you to merge the two together.’

The production is very electronic and pop and hopefully will push the limits of worship leaders to write and produce outside of the box.”

When it comes to songwriting, Sarah always tries to “write songs that come from a place of things (she’s) walked through or that would encourage other people.” Her hope is to stretch stylistically and for people to not put the stereotypical worship mindset on this project, but rather to think bigger and more creatively.

A lot of her musical style and depth of worship comes from influences such as Jeff Deyo (former lead singer of Sonic Flood who, funnily enough, introduced Sarah to her now husband), Bethel Music, Glades, Ellie Goulding, and Coldplay. Personally, some of the people who have helped shape and mold her into the person she is today are her mother, who has been a huge prayer warrior, her husband, who knows how to encourage and challenge her to be a better person and artist, and her pastors Henry and Alex Seeley from The Belonging, a church that meets in Nashville.

Given the journey that it’s taken to get where she is today, we asked Sarah what words of encouragement she would give to those coming up as artists and worship leaders now who might be growing weary of the grind.

“One thing that I’ve learned came from a message that Alex Seeley preached a while back called Surrender To The Process, and it’s just been something that I’ve clung to and have had to learn how to do. I had to let my dreams die and had to come to a place where I had completely surrendered my heart, my dreams, my career, everything that I wanted . . . and once I came to that point, He finally was enough for me. I think when we get to that point, it just doesn’t matter . . . our craft, our music, everything that we can see . . . it’s amazing. And if it happens, awesome, but if it doesn’t happen, it’s okay. Our purpose is eternity and to build the Kingdom of God with whatever He’s given us in the moment. Be faithful in those little things and surrender to whatever process He wants to take you through.”

Make sure to check out Sarah’s single, Nowhere, available anywhere music is sold. And make sure to keep an eye out for other singles she will release as her full project date this fall gets closer.

If you’ve been attending a church with a contemporary bent for any length of time, then you’ve likely sung songs on a regular basis written by a gentleman named Jesse Reeves. Jesse has co-written on some of the most widely known worship songs of our generation such as How Great It Our God, Lord I Need You, and Our God - just to name a few. 

Growing up in the Bible Memory Association, Jesse’s spiritual life consisted mostly of rules and regulations, until September 23, 1990 when he met Jesus at the ages of 15 and his life was changed forever. A rancher’s son, his love for playing music left his father stumped, but he continued following his passion and played with a band all the way through college. Then in 1997, Jesse met a country boy from Grand Saline, TX named Chris Tomlin who asked him if he’d like to lead worship, to which Jesse responded in all sincerity that he didn’t know what that was. At this point in the contemporary worship movement, the term “worship leader” hadn’t really caught on. There were music ministers, and that definitely was not the route Jesse wanted to go. But the two had lunch and the rest was history. 

I, myself, was raised in the church as the daughter of a Baptist youth minister (or student pastor as they’re called these days), and I was finishing up my high school years in youth group right about the time all of this was taking place. In fact, much of the soundtrack to the season in my life when God called me to ministry and began shaping and forming my passion for leading worship was penned and recorded by these two Texas boys. So to find myself today sitting in an 8,000 sq. ft. mountain lodge at a writing camp with the likes of Jesse Reeves is a full-circle, what-even-is-my-life moment to say the least. 

Nevertheless, you better believe I took full advantage of the opportunity to sit down with Jesse and talk about his heart for worship, the worship leader, and this next generation that God is raising up. I asked him first about the role that worship has had in his life growing up and how it has evolved throughout his time in ministry. 

“If you’re talking about the expression of worship through music, growing up it was just hymns and they didn’t mean anything to me. But now looking back, I have a huge appreciation for my childhood and learning those songs, because I learned what it means to teach theology through lyrics. It’s a lost art and so I’m very passionate about trying to revive some of that. And I’ve done this long enough to see that everything is on a pendulum. When I first started playing, everything sounded like U2, and then everything sounded like Coldplay, and then everything sounded like Mumford & Sons, and now it’s probably like Chainsmokers. And I just always come back to the question of ‘If the Spirit of the living God lives inside of us, why aren’t we creating things that are original and better than what the world is doing, instead of trying to chase what they’re doing?’ I do understand the context of being relevant and playing stuff that’s going to resonate with people, but I always want to come back to what the Spirit of the living God wants to hear, not what we want to play.”

Over his 20+ years in the worship leading world, Jesse has stood on every platform and stage imaginable and in front of every crowd size imaginable. I would venture to guess that making that mental shift from event to event and church to church had to require some form of finesse and adaptability. So I asked him what it looked like for him to make that adjustment, especially as it relates to transitioning out of touring and back into the local church setting.

“I would say that I’ve worked my way all the way to the bottom, and I think it’s kind of where I want to be. I didn’t always want to be there and it wasn’t an easy journey. I have been to the mountain top of Christian music and definitely want to honor that, but I very specifically was called out of that. It was through a sermon that I heard from Tommy Nelson. He was preaching on the anointing of David as king. If you go back and read 1 Samuel 16, they are looking to anoint the next king of Israel. Samuel shows up and they have this parade of all of Jesse’s sons . . . this is Eliab, this is Abinadab, this is Shammah . . . they went through seven sons, to which Samuel’s response was that none of these are the king, do you have any others?  Jesse says that yes, he has one other son but that he was in the field tending the sheep. Now when I was listening to this sermon, I was on a run training for a marathon, so I was a good 15 miles from my house. Tommy Nelson said one statement and it was this. “What God is looking for in a man is a man that more concerned about the sheep than the parade.” And I don’t know why, but that’s when the Holy Spirit wrecked me and I literally started weeping. I was still running, but now I’m running with my hands in the air and I’m saying “Jesus, I’m listening.” On a public path by the way. People are passing me thinking that this guy has lost his mind. But that was a moment in my life when Jesus started trying to get my attention. Hear me say this, there is nothing wrong with the parade. God sent Samuel to the parade. There’s a time and a place for the parade. But our generation lives for the parade and there’s not enough people who care about the sheep. I feel like that’s my mission in life going forward, to simply care for sheep. The parade will take care of itself. So to bring it back around to the question, yes I’ve been in megachurches to now I have a house church of about 20 people that meets in my home and it’s awesome. And right now, my favorite worship leader on the planet is the girl who leads worship in my house, because she has an anointing on her, and to get 20 people to sing in a living room is actually way harder than getting 10,000 people to sing because it’s awkward, but it’s beautifully awkward. And she has an authority on her that she can pull this out of people and turn people’s eyes on Jesus in such a way that you forget there’s only 20 people in the room. That’s something I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Reeves has a strong passion for pouring into worship leaders and songwriters and has done so in different ways over the past several years since settling back down with his family in Austin, TX. We discussed the fact that it seems like every generation of worship leaders has something that really marks them. For our particular generation, we were a part of that group that sort of stepped in right as that transition from traditional to blended to contemporary was really gaining its momentum, and so maturing as a worship leader looked very different from what it does now. I asked Jesse what he thinks the “mark” is for this current generation of worship leaders taking up roles in the church and coming into their own as leaders, and what it might look like for them to reach their full potential. 

“While I don’t want to make a blanket statement about it, I do feel like we have a generation of people who looked at my generation and saw what we did and thought, “That’s really cool, I want to do that.” And so we have a large percent of churches with people filling the platform that wanted to do that because it was cool, instead of because they have a calling on their life from God. So honestly I think what’s marking this generation is that, but I’m also not a doomsday-er. I don’t think all is lost. I think what God is calling people to right now, and you can see it across the nation, God is calling people out who are authentic. And that is who is rising to the top. I read a book called The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch and he says that this next generation wants three things . . . they want authenticity, they want community, and they want social justice. And if they don’t find those things in the church, they’re just not going to go. My generation will go to church just to check a box. Not this next generation. I think what is going to have to mark this generation is for true worship leaders to figure out how to reach them because they’re not going to come to us. Which means we’re going to have to lead worship not with just songs. We’re going to have to lead worship with our actions. So maybe God is raising up a new generation of worship leaders that has very little to do with music. Look at Romans 12:1.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.

That’s our definition. That definition doesn’t say anything about music, it doesn’t say anything about songs. We’ve had a whole generation that defines worship by our songs. God defines our worship by the degree to which we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. So what I pray is that the next generation will lead the charge in that. That’s something I would be willing to follow.”

As you can imagine, there’s not a whole lot to say after that, except this . . . where are you pouring out? Where are you investing your resources and energy? Is it into the parade or is it into the sheep? This is probably a question that we as worship leaders need to ask and re-ask ourselves on a regular basis. Like Jesse said, neither is right or wrong and there is a time and place for both. But it is always worth checking in periodically to make sure we are spending ourselves where He wants us spending ourselves. The alternatively will leave us simply exhausted. 

UNCASVILLE — Manny Ramirez turned to the man next to him, his former captain, and shared a little secret. “When I came to Boston, I watched you and I looked up to you,”: Ramirez told Jason Varitek. “When you went 4-for-4 or 0-for-4, you worked hard. It made me a better player.” It was a poignant moment during an evening of funny stories, fond reminiscences. “Man, I’ve never heard that before,” ...

It's hard to imagine Japanese ace Roki Sasaki wanting to come to the Red Sox based on their recent track record, writes John Tomase.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America on Nov. 11 announced the finalists for its Rookie of the Year Awards. Many Boston Red Sox fans take issue with its American League selections. Red Sox rookie Wilyer Abreu was not selected among the three AL ROY finalists. Colton Cowser, Austin Wells and Luis Gil — all AL East rivals — are the three youngsters nominated for this season's title.

This week Zorba and Karl talk about why it takes so long to get a doctor appointment, and they examine new research showing screen time is linked to delayed development […]

Moscow unleashed a horrific attack on Ukraine after a daring invasion into Russian territory.

For a man to have real children is easy enough. For children to have a real father is another matter entirely. Growing up fatherless left gaps in me. It does for everyone. Whether your dad was steeped in addiction, an absentee, or just ill-equipped, here are 5 key lessons I’ve acquired over the years. They are helping me to father like the father I never had. I’m praying they’ll help you too! 1. Be a courageous leader. I am the son of an absentee, alcoholic, abandoning man full of excuses. I...

Studio 5 gives you a First Look at The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. The film is directed by The Chosen's series creator Dallas Jenkins. It follows 6 misbehaving siblings who end up in leading roles in the town's Christmas pageant.

Lausanne at 50: Western Church Needs Revival; Believers in Asia, Africa, Latin America Fill Global Gap

Reaksa was abandoned by her parents and lived with her poor grandmother. Feeling unwanted and unloved, Reaksa followed a group of girls to a village church. That's when she discovered a love she never knew before, and it changed her life. See how.

Bob and Faith decided when they first married to follow an important financial principle. That was 65 years ago, and that decision has led to blessing their work, marriage, children, health, relationships, and more. Want to get in on that kind ...

Why don’t we all just take moment to acknowledge that we are collectively exhausted? The pandemic, the protests, the President’s Twitter feed — everything is exhausting. But maybe it doesn’t have to be?

Original Air Date: October 24, 2020

Guests:

Katrina Onstad — Emma Seppala — Richard Polt — Filip Bromberg — Lars Svendsen — Anne Helen Petersen

Interviews In This Hour:

Can We Not? How The Pandemic Has Made Burnout Worse Than Ever — Sunday Night Blues, Monday Morning (Short) Fuse — Setting Too High A Bar For Success Is Running Us Ragged — To Waste Time Is To Deepen Life — Why Swedes Are Trading Jobs For Meaning — Have You Considered Doing Nothing?

For all the commentary, the sorrow and rage, all the second-guessing about everything that followed, it’s still hard to fathom what happened on 9/11. Photographer James Nachtwey was in New York that day, and he took some of the iconic photos of the Twin Towers as they crumbled. "I’ve actually never gotten over it," he says. On the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, Nachtwey reflects on his life as a war photographer, and we consider the deep history of war itself. We also examine a very difficult question: Is war ever worth it?

Original Air Date: September 11, 2021

Guests: 

James Nachtwey — David Shields — Leymah Gbowee — Margaret MacMillan

Interviews In This Hour: 

Remembering 9/11 Through The Lens Of A Photojournalist — War is Beautiful? — Humans Have Gotten Nicer and Better at Making War — Is War Inevitable?

LONGER LIFE EXPECTANCY  People are living far longer than they did in decades past. Dr. Roizen says life expectancy in the U.S. has increased 2.5 years every decade for the last 170 years. For example, a woman who was expected to live to age 42 in 1850 is now likely to see age 80. One reason for this, he points out, is better sanitation, public health measures, and vaccines which produced an increase in the survival and health of the young in the first half of the 20th century. In later years,...

Before her husband died, Mrs. Wang was a stay-at-home mom.  She took care of her daughter Yuwen, who was sick a lot. “She caught colds easily,” Mrs. Wang shares.  “The doctor said she was just malnourished, so her immunity was low. He said if I gave Yuwen nutritious food, she’d get better.” As an illiterate widow, Mrs. Wang had no choice but to collect garbage on the streets so she could get groceries for Yuwen. “I bought Yuwen eggs and milk,” Mrs. Wang explains.  “I hoped it would build up her...

It's been more than 30 years since I heard a sermon illustration that I will never forget. There was a man, explained the preacher, who was visiting northern Minnesota in the winter. As his cab driver took him from the airport to his destination, he noticed a man sitting in the middle of a frozen lake fishing.  The man wondered out loud, “Is that safe?” “Yes,” answered his driver, “Let me show you.” His driver maneuvered the cab to the edge of the water. “Try it,” he said. “It’s perfectly safe...

As more Baby Boomers enter retirement, the need for skilled workers is increasing across the American economy. The construction industry is not immune. Add on the struggle with convincing young people that a college degree isn’t always the ticket to a good life and skilled trades are a viable career choice. How can the construction industry recruit good talent?

What is the purpose of fire prevention construction? Read on to find out.

Batteries are increasingly being used in a vast array of applications, from consumer products and micromobility devices, known as e-bikes and e-scooters, to electric vehicles and utility-grade energy storage systems. As use of these devices has grown, so too has the number of fire incidents associated with them.

Over the past three decades I have met all sorts of Drywall Dogs.

This past March, the message of National Ladder Safety Month reached millions of people. Now, the American Ladder Institute is seeking sponsors for the 2025 campaign so it can reach even more.

The purpose of this article is to simply differentiate “exit planning” and “succession” and outline the main points for a CEO to remember when succession planning.

The Gypsum Association and its member companies are committed to sustainability, and now, our industry is embracing another opportunity to contribute to a greener world.

Fiber cement siding is less susceptible to common environmental threats (such as fire, heat or moisture) than traditional wood cladding.

Online Blogs, Chat Rooms, and Community Forums; these cyber communities have become the modern version of the neighborhood bar, the office water cooler, and the campus coffee shop...

Have you ever been to an industry trade show? I usually attend several each year; the INTEX Expo, World of Concrete, and this year I had the opportunity to attend the Remodeling Show sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders at the Convention Center in Baltimore. You can always tell when a trade show is in town. Local restaurants and hotels are filled with small groups wearing matching shirts.

As the director of a national training program for plasterers, I help develop and implement training criteria and curriculum materials for young people just entering the trade. So, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to witness young men and women, who’ve got a few years under their belt, excelling at the craft-especially in a down economy! 

Werner introduced on Feb. 5 the new Bantam Switch, the first reverse-system self-retracting lifeline, for pros working at height. The SRL transfers weight of the housing unit from the user’s back to the anchor point and lightens the load to 0 pounds.

On Sept. 4, Werner introduced the new LevelSafe Pro, the easiest and most effective way to level a ladder. Working on uneven ground is a common challenge for the industry. The new Werner LevelSafe Pro system provides an easy and precise way to level a ladder.

Proposals include plans to introduce tax relief sanctions for persistent non-compliance with filing obligations and reform of the donor benefit rules, documents show

Washington — Workers who frequently drill concrete can experience reduced exposure to noise, silica dust and vibration if pneumatic rock drills are replaced with electric rotary hammer drills, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

Lowell, MA — Certain job tasks may expose construction workers to silica dust at levels more than 10 times the permissible exposure limit set by OSHA, according to the results of a recent study.

Toronto — A recent decision by Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board to formally recognize Parkinson’s disease as an occupational disorder linked to McIntyre Powder exposure guarantees provincial compensation benefits to affected workers and their families, Minister of Labor Monte McNaughton has announced.

Arlington, VA — As the Mine Safety and Health Administration works toward publishing a proposed rule on respirable crystalline silica, agency administrator Chris Williamson is encouraging mine workers and operators to “take proactive measures” to assess silica-related health hazards.

BuildBlock Building Systems, the manufacturer of BuildBlock Insulating Concrete Forms, announced the addition of Frank Gordon, Assoc. AIA, as the vice president for strategic development. Gordon will be leading the marketing, sales and technical teams and bringing them together to build relationships with industry leaders, stakeholders, developers, industry professionals and more, supporting BuildBlock’s growth initiatives.

BuildBlock announced that Russ Nicely has joined the company as commercial development director. Nicely will focus on continuing education and promotion for architects, engineers, general contractors, specialty subcontractors, owners and developers, as well as working to further develop commercial construction projects across North America.

Awarded to an organisation with an income of less than £500,000 a year that has made a significant impact with its work

Walls & Ceilings Architect’s next Webinar will be held on February 28.

The New York chapter of Professional Women in Construction, a nonprofit organization that supports career-minded women and works to promote diversity within the architecture, engineering, construction and related industries, held its annual Salute to Women of Achievement on Sept. 18, recognizing professionals at the highest levels of the AEC industry.

For the best new, changed or evolved brand

Ed Sullivan, chief economist and senior vice president of market intelligence for the Portland Cement Association — which represents America’s cement manufacturers — says that the Federal Reserve’s recent move to lower interest rates, coupled with easing inflation, signals a significant retreat in interest rate levels by the end of next year…all to the benefit of construction activity.

Washington — OSHA is reviewing comments on an advance notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at protecting workers from extreme heat exposure, administrator Doug Parker said during a Feb. 25 meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health’s work group on heat injury and illness prevention.

This weekend’s event is offering more than a million volunteering opportunities through its app

An estimated 6.5 million took part in the second event, down about 10 per cent on last year

A new report highlights factors that stop many disabled adults from giving their time to good causes

Aidan Jones, who has been associated with the movement for more than 50 years, was head of the relationships support charity Relate