This month's free song is not really a new song. Its been a full year now since I released Into Danger/Out of Rescue, and "Church or a Brothel" was the first song on the album. So to commerate the 1 year anniversary, I'm putting up the first demo version of the song. It is quite a different version of the song, and I'm pretty fond of it. I hope you enjoy it too.

"Church or a Brothel" is one of those songs that came out of nowhere. Several years ago I sat down one day just to play music as a sort of release. I've been in ministry for over ten years, and I had one of those days when I felt like no one got it anymore. I felt like the church had become a source of entertainment and social mobility instead of a place of refuge and spiritual mobility. And as a church worker I honestly didn't feel much different than a prostitute - expected to do whatever the customer wants as long as he pays me at the end of the day. I saw so much need around our community and in our world, but so little desire within the church to do anything about it. My frustration overwhelmed me, so I just started singing. This is the song that came out.

Not long after sending this demo to Jason Harwell, my good friend and president of Rebuilt Records, he said we should record an EP. So we did. We felt like there was more message to the project than the songs were offering, so I wrote a collection of essays. We put them together and it became Danger/Rescue. Then came the big question - what am I going to do with this thing?

The song was just the beginning. It was a small shift in my perspective. Am I doing ministry because it is what I'm passionate about? Or am I doing ministry for what I get out of it? What does real ministry look like without the personal reward? What does ministry look like when instead of paying, it costs you? I began realizing that this song was not as much for the church as it was for me. It was/is God speaking to me, asking me, "What are you willing to do to bring change to this world? How far are you willing to go?" So about this time last year I resigned from my full time career and began traveling around, singing my songs, telling my story, and asking the question - What's it take for some change?

Now here I am a year later, and I can honestly say I have no regrets. It has been a great year with a lot of new faces and a lot of lessons learned. I feel less like a prostitute and more like a minister. It has not been easy. There were so many times that I doubted, so many times I felt like I made a huge mistake, and so many times I felt like I just was not good enough. But it never really was about doing it right as much as it was about doing it. God has come through 100% each and every time, and He was proved that all things are possible with God. My faith has grown, and more importantly I feel like I've helped others' faith grow. I feel like change has occurred, is occurring, and will continue. What more could I ask for?

Thanks to everyone who has supported my family and the Rebuilt family over the past year. You have made this adventure possible, and you have been a true agent of change in this world. Thank you!