We’re up on iTunes, Amazon

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Awesome!  Excited to report that Tell the Story book and album are up on your favorite online retailers. Family Church people can order conveniently here for pickup at their campus (and take advantage of no shipping and bulk discounts!). The Advent Devotional Book is up on Amazon. Prime members take notice! And the Christmas Album is available for pre-order on iTunes and Amazon music.  

Free Sample of the Devotional Book

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We’re excited that Tell the Story: An Advent Devotional is now published and available! Watch us open the box! Want to preview it? Check out this free book sample: More details about the book. Pre-order the book now for delivery to a Family Church campus, or, order it on Amazon for delivery anywhere:    

Use this Christmas album to advance the mission!

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From the beginning, one of our dreams for this album project was that the people of Family Church would catch the vision for using it to build bridges with friends and neighbors who are far from God. I’ll give you an example.  I have a neighbor who isn’t a church guy.  Over the course of a handful of conversations as we bumped into each other, I mentioned that we were working on the Christmas album, and even showed him our promo video on my cell phone. He has told his girlfriend about it, and I’m going to follow up with an invitation to one of our Christmas events. Discussion about the album has broken the ice somewhat, which proved advantageous.  I’ve been able to pray with him when his dad was in the hospital, and talk with him about his upcoming marriage. The point is that even talking about the album has helped me forge a connection and begin spiritual conversation. Here are reasons to consider giving the Christmas album as a gift to friends and neighbors who may be far from God. Everyone listens to Christmas music. When they hear how good the album is, they will be impressed. There are a variety of musical styles on the album—everyone is sure to like something on it. The album has tracks in both English and Spanish, so no matter what your neighbors’ background, they can enjoy it. It’s an inexpensive gift. It can begin a conversation about the gospel, about Family Church, and about our mission. You can talk about how your personal connection with the music: you know, see, and are led in worship by the people on this record every week. It can be a great warm-up to an invitation to Christmas Eve services. At familychurchworship.org, there are discounts for 5+ copies.  It’s the perfect gift for employees, coworkers, and neighbors. You might want to have one or two on hand for last-minute gifts.

And they’re off!

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Good news on our progress: The album is out for digital distribution.  It has already been spotted on Amazon, and will appear in iTunes, Google Play, and other digital distributors in the next several days. If you see it, let us know! The album is also out for duplication into CD format.  We are promised to have product in hand by October 27, which is AWESOME! And the book: the final edits are being completed as we speak, and we hope to send it to press tomorrow. If you haven’t pre-ordered, now is the perfect time. Coming up soon: Look for a free sample of the devotional book, which will release soon. We are currently editing an awesome music video of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” It looks terrific! While you’re here: Pop over to our promote page, and lend us a post or a tweet to spread the word!

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Tell the Story: The Writing of “Go Tell It” by Winner Olmann

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Going into our creative retreat, we knew that we were going to recreate popular Christmas tunes, giving them the musical variety that would illustrate the diversity of our church. We didn’t know however, that any original music would come out of it. After a couple days of extreme productivity we decided to try our hand at making a completely original song. Being the musicians that we are, we started off with the groove, and boy, it was groovin’. Ok, so now we had a great groove. There’s only one problem: no lyrics. So from there we began a long process of trying to write lyrics for the catchy instrumental. The reality, however is that none of us specializes in writing Christmas tunes. So after about 30 minutes or so, we had absolutely nothing and were probably on the verge of giving up on it. As the team worked on some of the other songs, I decided to go into the lobby to see if there was a chance to save the idea. After about another 30 minutes of listening to the recorded groove on repeat, I had nothing. When I realized how much time was being wasted, I turned to my greatest source of inspiration. Believers have the greatest tool ever given to mankind: The Bible. In it we find countless stories of hope. One of these great stories is found in the book of Isaiah, particularly in the 9th chapter. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9.2 ESV). This is the story that Family Church wants to tell: people moving from darkness into light; passing from death to life; recovering and pursuing God’s design. Another passage of scripture that is heard around our church a lot is from 2 Corinthians 5: “that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…” I figured, “what could we say that’s better than this?” So I allowed these passages to be the foundation of the song and suddenly lyrics and melodies began to flow. This is the reality: God has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Whether you’re a pastor, plumber, painter or pilot, He’s entrusted you with this ministry and there are ways to use your occupation or life stage to “Tell the Story”. We could have just decided to make a catchy Christmas tune, but we chose to write a song commissioning others to “Go Tell It” to your neighbors, from the rooftops, on the mountain or wherever else you may be in the world. “Go Tell It” Sample: Winner Olmann is the Worship Pastor at Family Church Sherbrooke

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What an awesome choir!

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Family Church has a long tradition of excellent choirs, stretching back for decades. We are proud to feature the Family Church Worship Choir on several of the tracks of the new album. Check this out: Share this video: Here are some cool still shots from the choir’s recording session: Share this image: Share this image: Share this image: Listen to the Album Pre-order (for pickup at Family Church)

Rejoice in Suffering… by Daniel Martin

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In April of 2015, while Family Church Worship was knee-deep into the creative process for our first Christmas album, my wife and I received some bad news. I was told that I had thyroid cancer and that I would need surgery to remove my entire thyroid.  You see, when I was eight years old I was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and then relapsed when I was twelve. The large quantities of radiation and chemotherapy during those five years damaged my thyroid, resulting in a cancerous tumor almost fifteen years later. It was a difficult time for us.  Christine and I had only been married two years. Telling her that I had cancer—for the third time—was one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life.  Yes, I had trusted God through cancer twice before, but I had never faced this crossroad with her. Christine has always admired me for my tenacity, yet I found myself trying to muster up the strength to encourage her in the midst of chaos. My faith was further tested when I went for my consultation with my surgeon.  He told me that this surgery, as safe as it is, would likely alter my vocal ability forever. I immediately realized the next challenge God had for me.  Could I accept that He was (and is) my strength, and that my gifts are not my own? Was I ready to hand over to Him the instrument I use to lead His people in worship?  It wasn’t that I doubted the surgeon or God’s hand over the surgery.  It was that I knew God was asking me to be willing to give up my voice if He chose to take it away from me.  I wrestled daily with the thought that I was potentially counting down the days until I sang my last note as a worship pastor. A few weeks later I went to Christian Ramos and told him everything I feared.  I didn’t think I would be able to sing on the album.  Even if my voice recovered, it might not happen fast enough for our recording timeline.  I suggested that he not depend on using my voice for the album. I remember so vividly the empathy on his face as I spoke with him.  He looked at me and told me with confidence that he believed God would be faithful to bring me through this as a testament to His mercy.  He said that the arrangement of The First Noel that Tyler Williams, Dave Cornett, and I had worked on was mine to sing and that I needed to have this surgery, take time away to rest, and come back strong in order to sing this song. Before I knew it, surgery day arrived.  After a few days in the hospital, my wife and I headed home, and the road to recovery began. The first week or so it felt like someone had a constant chokehold on my neck.  I desperately …

“Tell the Story” Advent Devotional Book (Free Sample)

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Producing a Christmas Album gave us the great excuse to put together an Advent Devotional Book for the coming Christmas season. It’s entitled “Tell the Story: An Advent Devotional”, and we hope that it will be an inspiring resource for you to know Jesus better and understand the story of His coming more deeply. The book contains 30 daily devotionals, designed to be read beginning on the first Sunday of Advent, which this year is November 29th.  Each devotional contains a Scripture passage related to Christmas, a short reflection on that passage, and a suggested prayer. In addition to the 30 daily readings, there are five family devotionals meant for families to use weekly during Advent, including one for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  We designed them to be super, super easy to lead–very short, and requiring little or no preparation. Our Lead Pastor, Jimmy Scroggins, contributed a foreword for the book, in which he talks about the tradition of Christmas celebrations here at Family Church.  Additionally, for people who might be new to this sort of thing, the book has two appendices: one on how to have a personal devotional time with God, and one with suggestions for leading a Family Devotional time. The devotional passages were written by 30 of our pastors and ministry leaders here at Family Church.  They represent quite a range of wisdom, experience, and perspectives: men and women, younger and older, some theologically trained, some not, from a wide variety of ethnic and family backgrounds. We think you’ll enjoy hearing all the different kinds of voices represented. Check out the list of writers: Tim Akin Keith Albert Bev Bonner Charles Burgan Don Chinquina Dave Cornett Bernie Cueto Stana Cyran George Estornell Aaron Filippone Jimmy Fogleman Steven Madonna Kevin Mahoney Krystal Gutierrez Johanna Jurado Bill Keith Charbel Khadij Heather Khadij Daniel Martin Jimmy Muir Winner Olmann Christian Ramos David Ramos Kevin Saxton Steve Scalici Jimmy Scroggins Derek Simpson Jaime Thomas Ray Underwood Steve Wright The book can be purchased at a Family Church campus, at Family Christian Store in Boynton Beach, and is also available on Amazon.

Listen now! Album Preview

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Enjoy these audio samples from the album! Like what you hear?  You can purchase it at a Family Church campus, or on iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby.