If you were with us on Sunday you couldn’t miss the three Christmas trees in the foyer decorated with hundreds and hundreds of tags. These tags represent gifts that we plan to purchase as a church for several Christmas Stores hosted by DSC in partnership with area ministries, to help parents and children give gifts to one another who might otherwise not have that blessing.

If you are new to DSC or are just learning about the Christmas Store, check out this video and visit the recently updated Christmas Store page to learn more about this great opportunity for ministry in the surrounding communities.

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In addition to the Christmas Stores we have partnered to host in years past, this December, DSC will host a Christmas Store on our own property. We’re working with a local elementary school to identify and invite families in need from the community around our church.

The audio is now available for Wednesday night’s Q&A with DSC’s elders. If you weren’t there, give it a listen, and stop by DSC’s Leadership Page to get the faces and stories of the men who serve us as elders.

Next week we will post a blog with audio to specific questions and links to related resources. For now, here is a list of the major categories of questions addressed by the elders, with links to related pages around DSC’s website.

• Church Planting (Church Planting Page)
• DSC Finances (Finances Page)
• DSC’s Affiliations and Accountability (The Gospel Coalition)
• Shepherding
• Church Membership
• Community Groups (Community Groups Page)
• Adoption Ministry (Adoption Ministry Page)
• Schooling Approaches
• Global Church Planting (Global Missions Page, Church Planting Page)

We hope the Q&A and these follow-up posts serve to unite our body in the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1).

Last week, we wrote about our upcoming Elders Q&A, taking place this coming Wednesday night, October 26, at 6:30 PM.

If you have any questions for DSC’s elders, this is a great time to submit them. If you don’t have any questions for our elders, this is a great time to think one or a few up. During this service, our elders will answer questions concerning a range of subjects: our operations, ministries, vision, church planting, and whatever else you come up with.

You can submit questions through the Communication Card on Sunday morning and drop them in an Offering Box, or email your questions to info@desertspringschurch.org.

Also, you may wonder why we collect questions in advanced instead of going with an open-mic approach. The elders collect questions in advanced to ensure coverage of issues in proportion to the church’s interest. This helps us make the most of our time. Often, there are recurring themes, and we want to make sure those are addressed thoughtfully and clearly. Any questions that are not addressed at the Q&A will be answered through the DSC Blog or email.

By way of reminder, the Elders Q&A is taking place on the evening when we would normally have our Lord’s Supper. Plan to come early, as DSC’s youth will still be serving our regular church-wide dinner at 5:30 PM. October’s Lord’s Supper will take place in both Sunday services on October 30.

A few weeks ago we published a blog announcing and introducing this year’s Cause for Praise concert. Ahead of the event, which is this Friday at 7:00 PM, I asked Drew Hodge, our music leader, to answer a number of questions about this year’s concert.

1) Briefly, what is “Cause for Praise”?

Cause for Praise is an annual night of worship through song. This year is our second year and we hope to continue hosting the event every fall. Our desire for the event is to have people from all over Albuquerque come and sing, fellowship, and worship our great God in a way that’s a little different from a usual Sunday morning service. This year will be special in that we are doing a living room, unplugged kind of set. The musicians will all be on the floor for a close, family-like environment. Our prayer is that people come in and feel at home.

2) We know that DSC is releasing an album at this year’s Cause for Praise of songs based on various Psalms. What’s the story behind this album?

Yes! We are releasing Psalterium, Vol. 1, an EP (Extended Play) with five Psalms that we have put to music. Psalterium is Latin for Psalter which is a collection of Psalms, and this is Vol. 1 of what we hope to be a series of volumes, Lord willing. The songs came from our songwriting community that we call the Writers Guild. It’s a group our DSC writers that meet once a month and share music that we have been writing and receive encouragement and critique. Earlier this year I challenged the group to take the Psalm that is the same number as the day they were born and put it to music. My desire was to have more Psalm songs to sing with the church. Psalterium was recorded here at DSC and is the result of that effort.

3) What was the song writing approach for this album, in working from the text of a Psalm to lyrics for a song?

I told the writers to stay as close to the text as possible while taking some liberty with the text to adjust for rhyme and phrasing, changing a word here and there, or taking out a word or two to make it flow with the music. What we didn’t want was a song based on a Psalm. We wanted to sing the Psalm as closely as we could while still making it musically accessible.

4) Last year’s Cause for Praise was later released as a live recording. Will there be a live recording and follow-up album this year as well?

We will be recording this year’s Cause for Praise just like last year, but this year we will be releasing the songs one at a time in the coming months, instead of making a live record. That will give us more time to work on each song, and they will be available through the DSC website in the months ahead.

Admission is free and open to anyone, so plan to come, and bring a friend. Of course, be mindful that this is a live recording if you are including your children and, as always, don’t forget to silence your cell phones. We hope to see you Friday night!

The month of October has two special things going on. First, we will be sharing in the Lord’s Supper on a Sunday morning, October 30. Second, on the Wednesday that would normally be our Lord’s Supper service, October 26, DSC’s elders will host a Q&A session.

Why are we switching things up this month for the Lord’s Supper?

No where in the New Testament do we receive specific instructions concerning when or how often we are to share together in the Lord’s Supper. That’s interesting. We’re told by Jesus, “Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me (1 Corinthians 11:25). And when the Apostle Paul had the chance to prescribe a pattern, he only said, “as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 1:26).

But that’s okay. It’s enough for us to know the purpose of the Lord’s Supper: to remember Christ’s death and to proclaim Christ’s death until he returns. Our tradition of sharing the Lord’s Supper on the last Wednesday of each month is meant to help us do this with seriousness, clarity, and focus. It’s a great tradition and it honors Jesus’ command.

But for the same reasons, we’re going to change things up once a year and share the Lord’s Supper together on a Sunday morning. We hope to do this going forward once each year around this time of year.

How can I submit a question for the Elders’ Q&A?

First of all, just plan to submit at least one question. Any question. If you have any questions about our operations, ministries, vision, church planting, or anything else that you would like answered, submit them through the Communication Card on Sunday morning or by email to info@desertspringschurch.org.

If you don’t have any questions, stop for a minute and think up at least one question, then send it in. The elders collect questions in advanced to ensure coverage of the most prominent issues. However, if there are questions unaddressed at the Q&A they will be answered through the DSC Blog or email.

The Elders’ Q&A will take place at 6:30 PM, but you’ll want to come an hour early. It’s not a Lord’s Supper meeting, but we still need to eat and we still need to talk to each other. So, the youth are hosting their now customary pre-service church-wide meal at 5:30 PM. Plan to come, and plan to come early.