Download our free song: Victorious
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Uncertain times, Wars, Fear, Shame…
Literally NOTHING is greater than our God, and he has made us more than conquerors through his power.
We are victorious and completely free!
Hope this song encourages you today!
Roger
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I’ve been singing since before I can remember: It started with my family, then church choirs, special music with cassette trax, school ensembles, barber shop quartets, university choir….I’ve loved singing all my life, and just assumed it would always be for fun. Never would I have guessed God would have me use singing as what I do full time! If I wasn’t a pilot or a spy…haha, I figured I’d be a coach or maybe a youth minister.
After 10+ years into God calling me to lead worship, I’m blown away at the opportunities He has given me to be used for His kingdom! So humbling.
So, a few months ago I felt like God was telling me I should take voice lessons. I’d never had a lesson in my life, and figured it would be a good step in being a good steward and further developing, etc.
Through my church, I found an amazing vocal teacher and scheduled my first lesson.
Brief pause here:
In the larger picture of life, I had been feeling like I was in a resting/waiting season. I was enjoying some sweet ministry and enjoying life…but had inside a dissatisfaction for my status quo and a desire to be more useable. Ever had that feeling? 
I saw God closing some possible doors and had been thanking Him for His clear direction. (patting myself on the back for my great attitude) But still believing for great things, I even told a friend the night before my voice lesson: “I feel like I’m ready! I feel like I’m ready for this resting season to be over and to start running — I just need God to point me in the right direction”.
So that was my headspace going into this lesson.
Unpause.
I walk into the studio. Nervous. I’ve heard this guy is stinkin amazing and I’m ready for him to pick me apart. Already sweating in the waiting area…
We do some get to know you chat and then he asks me to sing a song for him.
He picked it out: “you know Hoobastank – ‘the Reason’?”
Me: “Sure!”
He hands me a mic and rolls the track…
I start singing. 20 seconds into me singing he stops the track.
I’m thinking “Perfect…here’s my first tip. I’m ready!”
He says “has anyone ever told you that you might have vocal nodules?”.
Me: “No”
Bryan: “there’s a very specific sound your voice is making that sounds unmistakeable to me like vocal nodules…”
After a few more vocal tests, he said he wasn’t comfortable doing a lesson until I got my vocal chords checked out. He spent the rest of the time graciously trying to help me find a great Dr. and explaining to me what might happen.
Basically, it was very likely that I was looking at complete vocal rest for a month and possibly surgery. Ugh.
I left the studio completely dazed. “What in the world?! I don’t have time for vocal rest! This is what I do for a living! Besides, I’d go crazy not talking for a day…a month would make me a monster! What is God doing?!”
I really tried to have a good attitude and sincerely believed God’s promise that He uses all things together for good, for those who love Him and are called to His purpose…this one wasn’t easy though.
Later that night, in a still moment, God had me remember what I told my friend: “I think I’m ready”… ha! guess not.
And then He had me think through the lyrics I was singing as I got this unsettling news. Here is what I sang:
“I’m not a perfect person
there’s many things I wish I didn’t do
But I”ll continue learning
I didn’t mean to do those things to you
and so I have to say before I go
I just want you to know
I found the reason for me…
To change who I used to be…”
(My vocal coach stopped me at that point)
I sat with my eyes really wide…filled with tears.
Thankful and humbled that God had spoken so clearly to me.
“I get it God…
I know all to well I’m not perfect.
Before, I’ve tried to act like I was… but actually far from it. I hate that I’ve hurt you and taken your forgiveness and grace for granted. I have indeed found the reason to change who I used to be… its You! Absolutely! There’s nothing that comes close to you… You are way more than a reason. You are the only one who can change me. Its a delight to be transformed by and for You! No other reason is enough! And…. if you say I’m not ready yet, and want to continue to change me… mold me, take more dross out. I’m all in!
And You are way cool for having me sing that song! perfect.”
I posted online a request for prayer for a miracle. You prayed. God answered.
Though I’m a “singer” – I don’t typically sing around the house all day.
However two days later as I was finishing some prayer time and packing… I just began to sing out loud and worship God. After just a few moments I stopped and started again. Something was different about how my voice sounded. It felt different as I sang too! Did God just heal me?!?!
I was believing God had in fact just healed my voice.
That night I flew to Houston and saw the pastor of First Pres Houston, Jim Birchfield, at a little league game in Houston. After hearing the news, he offered to personally set me up with a Dr. that everyone had been recommending.
Four days after my voice lesson I was sitting in a Dr’s office in Houston, watching him look at a video of my vocal chords and hearing him say my vocal chords are “textbook healthy…there’s absolutely nothing wrong with your vocal chords”!!!
Praise God! that was the best news I could’ve hoped for! I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off! God had spoken a massive word to me…from a voice lesson, AND had healed my vocal chords too. He is so good!
Thank you all SO MUCH for praying for me! Praise God for His goodness and for His spiritual and physical healing!
Wherever you are on your journey. Know that God is able. And he loves you and has good planned for you. Keep believing and walking today.
I read this verse the other day and will leave you with this:
“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Peter 5:10-11 (emphasis added)
Wherever you are in that process: restoration, confirming, strengthening and establishment…walk in His paths and let His strength and wisdom lead you through His perfect ways.
Hey friends! make sure to download my new single “Higher”… its free here: http://noisetrade.com/rogercullins
The new EP releases this Tuesday! Very excited for you to have this! Blesings to you all and thanks for your support!
Our group was the last of all the groups to visit the hospice center. We spent every morning doing VBS and every other afternoon doing manual labor. We had heard the other groups talk about how moving their visits had been, and we were anxious for this experience. We arrived at the hospice and were told our schedule only allowed for 20 minutes. Bummer. Seriously? That’s like nothing.
We received our briefing from the nun about the patients and how we should spend our time with them, and then we all quickly went inside to make the most of the time.
The room I went inside had two patients. One was dying of AIDS and was not very coherent. The other was very alert and seemed completely healthy from the waist up. I introduced myself and he told me his name was “Ayrik”. He told me briefly about his life – that he had gone to school in Cuba, then worked construction and as a translator in Columbia. At that point we switched to speaking Spanish – which he loved. He asked about my life situation and my family, and I would attempt to answer in Spanish with him coaching me. It was a lot of fun! We had some good laughs and definitely “bonded” in those few short minutes. For whatever reason, I hadn’t expected the time to be so pleasant. I realized that our time was about to be over and I asked Ayrik if he would like me to read scripture for him. He requested Psalm 23. His eyes and face lit up as I recited those amazing promises. He told me that he loved Jesus and was so thankful for God’s Word.
I then prayed a prayer of blessing over him and thanked God for his life and for God’s faithfulness in our lives.
After the prayer, I realized that I had to say bye and was growing very uncomfortable about how to say bye to someone whom I’d just met, connected with….who was certain to die soon, and that I would never see again.
I felt a lump in my throat and mentally tried to “talk away” the emotion in my heart by thinking I was stupid for getting emotional about a stranger.
At that point Ayrik said “I’ll see you again…” and he smiled as he pointed up.
The lump got bigger in my throat and I smiled back at him and said “yes, we will see each other again someday”.
Ayrik replied, “I will come and find you.”
At that point my heart was about to burst – for sure not able to explain anything away. All I could do was smile and nod back to him as I held his hand … and said “Yes sir, I’ll look forward to seeing you again too. God bless you. He loves you! Bye…” and I turned and walked out the door.
As soon as I turned the corner I lost it. I found the rest of our group singing to a group of ladies in the entry hall and just stood in the background. The tears continued to rush and I knew there was no hiding them. I didn’t really care though.
I was just amazed at how much my heart had been instructed in a few brief minutes.
The teachers: death and life.
The death of the physical body – the brevity of human life…..and the promise of eternal life. Visiting these people who knew they would die soon, heightened my awareness of death and prompted me to be intentional about my time with Ayrik.
Then I connected with my new friend. Ayrik wasn’t just “someone” anymore, he was my friend and brother. I didn’t want him to die. However Ayrik was apparently very at peace with his approaching death. He reminded me that he would be seeing me again because, for children of God, death is only a doorway to true life.
Just as the certainty of death was highlighted for me in our time together…the certainty of eternal life after the death of my physical body became more real than ever.
Praise God for Ayrik.
Praise God for this encounter and reminder – death has no power over us.
No question, everything in the flesh passes away.
The good news: the spiritual seeds we sow last forever.
I can’t believe Summer 2010 is pretty much over… hurricane season and heat for Texas is just getting going, but a lot of the “fun” — camps, mission trips, etc. are all wrapped up. I have much to share and even more to be thankful for…
I look forward to sharing more details of the summer in the next week.
A few highlights: Jamaica mission trip was incredible – my first international mission trip and a few camps with some incredible students and an amazing encounters with God.
So….more to come.
All I can say right now is that I’m so thankful for God’s fresh work in my life and your life daily. He’s working and shaping even when we’re not aware.
I pray that you are hanging on to at least a “mustard-seed” of faith in God today. Just that much can move mountains – God’s promise.
Let’s welcome God to have His way in our lives by accepting His love – praising His greatness for innumerable reasons – and expecting His fresh work….hungering for His fresh revelation in our hearts.
Blessings to you all!
Roger
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” – St. Augustine
Wow! God is amazing!
I am so thankful for His mercy and grace that HE pours on me…and you daily.
I’ve been resting, praying, seeking, rebuilding, listening, tearing down, sharpening, questioning – you name it – …for over two months now.
My conclusion: I need to be still more.
Sounds familiar huh? I can’t even begin to summarize the things that God has been showing me about Himself – His greatness….and then in turn about me: my depravity …yet my worth in Him and His huge love for me.
Its very sobering yet inspiring to be still long enough to see that God’s greatness and love are MUCH more massive than I ever imagined. Equally sobering is that I feel like God has put my life on a map and showed me an overview of my life so far…good stretches and where I took wrong turns – damaging turns…. that I though were a good idea some of the time, turns I knew were wrong, and others that I didn’t even realize I was taking. Those can’t be taken back…but God is a miraculous redeemer. When I see this snapshot, I see how needy I am not only for His direction but most of all the relationship with Him.
Yes, direction is a blessing from Him, but He is the real prize.
I’m sad that I don’t always see Him that way. I’m trying to re-train my eyes to stay focused on His glory and goodness so that I won’t be distracted by the joy killers that make themselves so readily available in this world – begging to capture the attention of my heart, and leave me starving.
Seeing these things from the Lord have caused lots of tears and literal shouts of joy.
Its an experience that I believe is only just beginning. My life trajectory is being reset – yes I’ve made some big decisions about my future recently – but now God is molding my heart and allowing me to stare at Him for a bit. The heart leads the life. My heart is changing and I have no clue what the details look like – except that its God’s work and He is an amazing Creator and He knows every single detail of every day of my life already.
My mind and heart are so full of truths and thoughts about all of this…but I feel like I’m driving towards the mountains from far away. You know when you’ve been driving across the plains for – forever and you finally see the peaks far off – you get really excited, yet the best views and breath-taking moments are still to come…and so much better. Yeah…I’m just now seeing the faint outline far off…..heading there at the speed and route God so chooses.
Ok. Thats a lot. enough for now.
Logistics:
So…I’m still loving and clinging to this time of rest, but I am beginning to lead worship here and there. Check out the “events” to see details. I have been totally focused on this rest time, so we’ve not even started intentionally booking and getting the word out, but we will be doing that very soon. If you’re interested in having us partner with you – check out “contact”.
Dallas: I’m loving being there…great people, loving Gateway – Gateway Connect Worship Conference was amazing!
Its been cold. need warmer weather. Still searching for the right job situation during the week.
Again – great place for me to be still.
thats it for now.
blessings to you! Don’t be afraid of that still small voice. behind it is a huge God that loves YOU.
roj
Dear Friends,
I want you to know about some exciting and big news in my life. I am going to be leaving my family here at HFBC to pursue traveling and leading worship – concentrating on writing and recording songs. I’ve been praying about this for several years, and God has made it very clear that this is what He is calling me to for this next season. I am so thankful, humbled, honored, …. to have had these 5+ years here with this amazing family. Thanks to Pastor Gregg, Tom and Stephen for allowing me the opportunity to serve in the capacity that I have. What a privilege! This has been a place where I have learned and grown in so many ways. Of course, the relationships are the part I’ll miss the most. Not only do I love you – I really LIKE you guys! However, there is no reason great enough to ignore God’s call on my life.
The best place for each of us to be is a place where we hear God’s clear voice and are walking in obedience to it. This is my best attempt at following God with all my heart at this time.
A few details: I’ll be moving to the DFW area and probably attending Gateway Church when I’m not traveling. I’ll also be looking for a weekday job to help pay the bills while momentum is building for this new ministry.
My last Sunday leading worship at HFBC will be Dec. 27th.
I will be officially submitting my resignation the beginning of January, but will be busy transitioning to the DFW area – so you won’t see me much at church.
You can stay up to date and in touch with me here: www.rogercullins.com.
Of course, I am super excited and sad at the same time. A big part of my heart will always be here with you all. I am so thrilled to be a type of “missionary” – one of the many this church is constantly preparing and sending out – and I know our paths will cross in the future. I pray that you can rejoice with me for this exciting new journey. Blessings to you!
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2
Thankful,
Roger
Chris and I are here in Brownwood TX, for a few days with Howard Payne’s “Resurrection Week.”
We’ve had 3 great sessions already and looking forward to another awesome night of worship with the students here.
This is a very busy stretch for a few weeks here…coming straight from HFBC’s ski trip, and then hitting Easter when returning to Houston.
We’re also very excited about the new web site that is launching in stages. Stephen Shaw did a great job!
The album has been received extremely well in Houston and we’re looking forward to launching it nationally.
Its been so awesome to hear people’s testimony about how God has used the message of the songs to touch their lives.
We are praying for more of that!
What in the world is up with CVS’s choice of music?
The last few times I’ve been in there, I’ve been put quickly in a depressed mood from the horrible music….
songs that I’ve never heard before. songs that I can’t imagine anyone thinking “this is a good song”
I can’t help but wonder if there’s some specific purpose for playing such poor music.
does it cost them extra to play quality music?
can anyone enlighten me?