Blake Goss

Fridays are off days at Freedom. Today I spent my off day doing one of the things I love most. Turning up my amp loud enough for the neighbors to hear and rocking out for literally 3 hours straight. I love taking time to block out everything else that’s going on in life and just jam. I’m getting pumped about the FreedomLive recording so it was nice to spend uninterrupted hours writing lyrics, guitar parts, etc.

I’m selling a M-Audio Oxygen midi controller and a line 6 echo park delay pedal. Bought this cool midi controller a while back and to be honest haven’t used it enough. It’s awesome for making loops and things of that nature, but we just haven’t used it to its fullest capabilities. It is literally brand new and comes with a padded gig bag. The line 6 echo park is a great pedal, but I just upgraded to a Boss DD20 so I don’t have any use for it. I can work out a great deal on either of these products. If you are interested contact me: blake@freedomlive.net

Last night we had our first FreedomGroup meeting. It was incredible. We started out talking about questions from Pastor JR’s message, but then it somehow led into hearing everyone’s story as to how they ended up at Freedom. It’s so cool to see the different path’s God took people on to get them to where they are now. I can’t wait to share life with the different people in the group.

8.24.08

• Broadcast- Fee
• Glorious Freedom- FreedomLive
• Everlasting God- Lincoln Brewster Version
• Fix You- Coldplay
• It Is Well- Horatio Spafford w/ a strong Freedom twist
• Shout Unto God- Hillsong United

As soon as we were done playing on sunday I turned around and told the band that was my favorite set since we launched. It’s not that there was anything super spiritual about the song selections….It was just one of those sets where the whole church was letting go and experiencing spirit led worship. 

I loved the tag of “Shout Unto God” at the end of “It Is Well” where the two songs became one and said, “it is well, it is well with my soul; cause the enemies been defeated and death couldn’t hold you down.” There is nothing that gives me more joy and passion than the truth of that statement.

“Fix You” was unbelievable thanks to the help of the entire production team. Awesome job on the lights and big props to Ian on the video that played with the song. You can check out the making of the video on his blog. Why is it that every time we want to make a video we do something that could get us hurt and/or in trouble? I love church planting.

Well, we finally sold my truck. Although I was sad to see it go, I was happy to see $20,000 worth of debt drive away from my life forever. The coolest part is that tomorrow is 6 months since we started our debt free quest. We began on Feb. 23 and in exactly 6 months we were able to eliminate $43,000 of debt. Here’s the breakdown:

• Credit Cards- $1,500                    
• Hospital (I had pneumonia)- $1,500
• Camry- $20,000
• Tacoma- $20,000

          Total: $43,000

Now obviously there is no way we could payoff that much debt in 6 months with our income because we don’t make even close to that much in that time period. That’s why you have to go nuts and sell things you don’t need (in my case new cars) and cut back on the simple monthly payments. Some things I cut back on where going to basic cable, cutting our home phone line, and getting rid of credit cards altogether. Yes, even if you “pay them off” every month. You’ll spend less without them.

People ask me all the time how I’ve cut that much debt in such a short amount of time. I hope these simple suggestions help. Freedom is going to be offering some huge financial help in the future so keep checking back and we’ll keep you updated. I cannot even begin to explain how financial freedom will help your spiritual life, your marriage, and your overall sanity.

All we have now is a student loan then we’ll be completely debt free. I am setting a goal for it to be gone by the time we start “Debt Free Acworth.” It would take God providing big time to make it happen by then, but you’ll be surprised to see how God blesses and provides when you are being faithful and following him with your financial life.

Yesterday we launched a brand new series called “No Freaking Way.” It was an all around great day in the life of Freedom Church and we had our best attendance ever. It’s cool being a part of a series centered around Jesus’ miracles and seeing those same “no freaking way” moments happen all around us day after day. God is good and I’m so excited about what’s on the horizon at Freedom.

Set List 8.17.08

• Sing Sing Sing- Tomlin
• Let God Arise- Tomlin 
• It’s Not Over- Daughtry
• Healer- Michael Guglielmucci                                                                                                         (Showed the video of the story behind the song. Awesome moment of worship.)
• Hallelujah- Hillsong United

Yesterday was an all around incredible day at Freedom Church. For weeks Pastor JR has been challenging us with the scripture where God spoke to Joshua and said, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” We were getting prepared for God to do something amazing, but were unsure as to when “tomorrow” was gonna come. God has shown us that “tomorrow” begins next sunday. 

If you are ready to be part of a movement of God then do whatever it takes to get yourself, your family, friends, and anyone who breathes to Freedom next sunday. We are about to live out a movement that is as powerful as the ones you read about in scripture. You don’t have to just read about, you can live it. I think it’s interesting that our next series is called “No Freaking Way”, because it will be our response as we see what is about to unfold.

Set List 8.10.08

• We Shine- Fee
• Our Victory- FreedomLive
• You Never Let Go- Matt Redman
• God Of This City- Chris Tomlin version (with “Majesty” tag)

Every creative arts director, worship leader, and production guru just got schooled on what creative production looks like. That was nuts! The guy who coordinated that event and all the people involved is a genius and deserves the first gold medal. Maybe Ian and I can take him out to lunch to get some ideas……PF Changs on us.