Welcome to 2025!  As we begin a new year, my personal prayer is that this would be a year of His presence – a year to know Jesus more, to pursue His heart, and to become more like Him.

At the beginning of each year, I ask the Lord for vision and direction for our community at Adoration Music Academy.  I am excited to share with you the vision for this year as well as new opportunities that will be launching soon.

Another key aspect of the worship of heaven is the centrality of thanksgiving.  Recently I was challenged to have a spirit of thankfulness in all things.  As a result, I decided to study the Scriptures on the topic and was amazed by what I found.

The greatest privilege is to know God and be His friend.  Far above fulfilling any calling, purpose, or achievement, we desire to know Him… to sit in His heart, to be trusted, and to discover how our lives can minister to Him.  We see this same heart cry throughout the Scripture, but perhaps most notably in the life of Moses.

Worship is one of the most intimate expressions of love between us and Jesus.  As we worship, we come face to face with God, as we were created to do; and as we behold His face, our hearts erupt in continual worship.

Let's be honest... sometimes we just don't feel like worshipping. We know we should, and we know it is our "one heart and one purpose" (Jer. 32:39), but often our hearts just aren't feeling it. Recently I was pondering this reality and asking the Lord what it is that positions our hearts in the place of truly desiring to worship.

In order to worship Jesus “in spirit and in truth,” we have to know Him. The problem is that many people today don’t know Him. What does He like? What does He dislike? What are His ways? What is on His heart in this moment? Beyond simply speaking of Him in words, how can our hearts truly know Him?

Worship must begin in what the Scriptures call "the secret place" (Matt. 6:6), with just you and the Lord. You will never be able to lead others into worship in a corporate setting until you can worship alone when no one is watching. You will never be able to worship at your instrument until you can first worship without it. So how do we worship Jesus alone in the secret place? Psalm 46:10 gives us the key: “Be still and know that I am God.”

What happens when we worship? Are we simply singing songs in our living room, or is our personal worship a part of something far bigger, far more eternal? Throughout history, the Scriptures and the church have always seen worship as the coming together of heaven and earth.