Our worship and media conference last weekend was a huge success! Months and months of planning and the efforts of many people resulted in a great event with 315 registrants from 50 different churches, more than 20 exhibitors, 25 volunteers & staff and some incredible special guest artists & clinicians. Many of our registrants and exhibitors couldn’t believe this was our first conference and stated they will definitely be back next year.  I can’t count the number of people who said, “I wish we would’ve brought more people!  We didn’t realize it was going to be this good.”

Thank the Lord for helping us with all the details.  We learned a LOT and will build on this experience to make future conferences even more relevant and productive for all who attend.

Check out these links to catch a glimpse of the experience.

View our 36-page full-color program

View our photo album of the event

If you attended the event and have any feedback or impressions to share please sign in below and leave your comments.

You should see my desk right now after being on vacation for three weeks – there are more stacks and piles than I know what to do with. My first step is to throw away as much as I can. But looking around I see a lot of mail, papers, magazine covers, etc. that speak of two different themes, worship and missions. Now remember that my place on the team here at RCC is creative arts and missions pastor – so in my small mind these two worlds work together. Here’s how I think that world of worship and the world of missions collide in a big way…

Worship literally means giving worth to the object, deity or person that we worship. Of course as Christians this hopefully means that we ascribe worth or glorify the one who created all things and who knows and loves us best. This should in theory outweigh giving glory to any other person or created thing in our lives. So if we are to truly ascribe worth and give the most glory to the Creator – then we cannot accomplish this on just a few hours a week. This type of worth-ship or worship has to happen with every part of our being (our decisions, desires and actions). This is what I call the life of a worshiper.

Then there is the term and the thought of missions. Missions by its definition of its function in churches is all about reaching the body, community and even the world for Jesus Christ – meeting physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social needs of people. So we assume that being on mission 24/7 is something that is very possible. It is being salt and light, it is being a witness all the time, it is living the life of a Christ-follower.

I think that what happens is that people associate everything that happens in the church to be worship and everything that happens outside the church to be missions. In my opinion this is not the case. Worship happens more outside the church than it does within and missions happens inside the church as well as outside the walls.

So where is the collision? The collision is the sweet spot, it is the best place to be. It is where the sky meets the earth, the beautiful horizon which we’ll never actually stand in this lifetime but we are always walking towards it. The sweet spot is where heaven meets earth – and thus our one true mission is born. It is our mission as children of God and followers of Christ to see the glory of our Creator expressed in the physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and social lives of every person who inhabits this rock.

Do worship and missions go together? Like peanut butter and jelly. Like oreos and milk. Like wine and cheese. That’s why everyone should get to do what I get to do. That’s why no matter what my title or position on a team will ever be – I will always care about inspiring others to live lives of worship and mission 24/7.

“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the other prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25).

Paul and Silas had been falsely accused (that’s enough to send some of us into a spiritual funk right there), illegally beaten (they were Roman citizens) immorally beaten, denied medical care (how many of us can’t function if we get a hang nail?), were thrown in prison and as far as they could see there was no end in sight. Yet they prayed and sang.  Literally it means, “praying, they sang praises.” Instead of complaining their prayers escalated into songs of praise.

The people listened.

When you can sing through suffering instead of complaining people will listen to your message. They can see something different in you. The greater the trial the more they’ll listen. This week purpose to sing through trials.  And may the Holy Spirit enlarge your testimony and make you His witness.

Here is a sample platform ministry dress code that we use at our church:

Platform Ministry Dress Code
Serving others in our community at [yourchurch] is a great honor and responsibility. If you are asked to appear on the platform for any public ministry in the creative arts, please dress in a way that you are not a distraction to the congregation, whether positively or negatively. Our goal as ministers to the body is to direct focus off of us and point others towards God. [yourchurch's] style is a relaxed atmosphere so that carries over to our platform ministry as well. We expect all volunteers who appear on the platform to be clean, neat, dressed in good taste, avoiding bizarre or extreme styles, including tight or revealing clothing. Dresses and skirts should be a modest length (close to the knees). The Bible emphasizes the importance of modesty, simplicity and neatness in respect to dress and personal appearance. Under all circumstances, modesty is the standard for all occasions. Also avoid excessive jewelry, piercings, fragrances and chewing gum.

The following guide concerns acceptable platform wear under normal circumstances. Its application pertains to worship leaders, musicians, singers, choir members, special music participants and other platform leadership roles. The leadership has the right to clarify any inappropriate attire at any given time.

Dress Code: A clean, neat and modest appearance should be maintained for all who ministry on the platform at [yourchurch]. Casual dress pants are acceptable attire so as long as the appearance is clean, neat and modest. This means that the following are not acceptable: formal dress attire; pants, dresses or skirts that are too tight or loose, immodest, or have holes that you can see through; shirts and tops that are too tight or loose, immodest, or have questionable content on them; tennis shoes; excessive jewelry or fragrances; chewing gum.

Immodest: Our working definition of immodest includes anything that would embarrass, offend, or shock people – especially in reference to sexuality or exposure of parts of the body that might cause another to stumble or be offended.

There are a ja-billion definitions out there of what worship is.  However, my mind works best if I can streamline things, so I like to think of worship like this:  Worship is recognizing the truth about who God is and responding accordingly.  This helps me realize that worship can happen at any time.  When Jesus said in John 4 that we are to worship God “in spirit and in truth,” you can almost make the argument that it should be “in truth and in spirit.”  Once we are made aware of the truth about God, the only correct response can be to worship.  If I truly believe the certain truth that God made me and loves me, then my response should be to trust Him implicitly – that takes away a lot of anxiety.  A practical example would be if I’m doing laundry, I can stop and think how grateful I am that God gave me these clothes.  In that instance I have worshipped because I’ve recognized truth about God and responded accordingly by giving Him thanks and praise.

Most of the time we as musicians are looking for an outlet for our music.  We’ll look for any opportunity to play.  But sometimes that zeal can get in the way of making good music.  You know what I’m talking about.  The drummer that insists on demonstrating every fill he knows during a single worship set.  The bass player that slaps and pops every song.  The lead player who spanked out the face-melting lead right in the middle of the most intimate of worship songs.  Very cool but completely inappropriate.   Each musician must ask the question, “what do I need to contribute to best serve the song and the people I am trying to lead.  We can best serve the people by encouraging them to engage in the worship songs that we are playing.  But the people we serve will find it difficult to join in if there is no space left for them.  If we fill every measure with our best stuff, there is no room for others to be involved.  The people may enjoy our performance but that’s about it.  Serving the song and serving the people requires restraint on our part.  We want to add just enough for the music to be tasty but not overwhelming.  Good music is like a good recipe.  I love a little cayanne pepper but too much will make your tongue bleed.  Too much of anything, no matter how good, will ruin the recipe.  That goes for keys of songs as well.  If you have a high range and you are at the top of it on a song, then chances are most of the people won’t be able to sing along.  They will stop singing and disengage.  Next rehearsal, think of yourself as a cook while working on the arrangement.  Then on Sunday serve the people something nice and tasty. 

A few years ago when our daughter was ready to give birth to our first grandson, I remember thinking of all the wonderful things I was going to teach this child.  I’m trying to instill in him my love for the outdoors, music and life in general.  But recently he has been doing the  teaching and I’ve become the student.  In his mind every day is an adventure.  He is regularly fighting battles against the dark side and defending the world.  His mind is free to imagine and create an epic story to live.  Don’t you remember when you were like that?  I wonder what happens to us that suppresses that creative spirit that God breathes into us?  I’ve always tried to be mindful of maintaining freshness and creativity in my life and worship ministry, but my grandson is stirring me to press harder and fight to nurture the creative spirit that we were all given.  After all our God is an infinitely creative Spirit.  In the book “Orthodoxy” by G.K. Chesterton, he proposes that it may not be automatic necessity that causes the sun to rise.  It may be that God says each morning,”do it again” to the sun and each evening, “do it again” to the moon.  Perhaps it is not just nature that makes every daisy alike, but God creates each one individually and has never grown tired of doing it.  But we have allowed ourselves to grow weary and have lost much of the fierce creativity of our youth.  My grandson is mentoring me and helping me get it back.  Get yourself a 4 year old mentor.  It’s exciting. 

Read My Mind

Sometimes we as worship leaders get frustrated with certain team members because we make assumptions that aren’t necessarily true. We assume everyone on the team can read our minds. Now certainly there are times when musicians and even technicians can anticipate one another as relationships develop but I’ve found that much frustration can be avoided if we spend a little more time investing in our team members. One key point is to not assume that everyone is as engrossed in the worship “happenings” as you are. Begin by casting vision to the team as a whole and then start methodically working your way through the ministry, spending time with vocalists, instrumentalists, technicians, etc. Start out by doing a lot of listening and maybe even change the environment by taking teams to a nice coffee shop or something. I’ve sometimes even scheduled meetings with no agenda except to listen to what they have to say. I just bring a pencil and pad, write stuff down and listen. Also, avoid the temptation to address things only as they happen (which will normally result in a negative conversation) and try to work 2 or 3 steps ahead of a problem. That means taking notes of things you’d like to see change and then (here’s the hard part) waiting. Not just sitting around, but coming up with a sort of curriculum to your team’s development. Sometimes, your team members will get it on their own and you can congratulate them. Or, if you’re known as a listener, you may even have one of them come to you and ask you what you think. But the first step is to pave the way for an atmosphere of dialog. Don’t just plan music and rehearsals, but plan for people development.

MAGNIFYING THE LORD WITH OUR WORSHIP

Psalm 34:3 says, “O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.”
Worship is the act of enlarging God. Does he actually get bigger? No. But as we worship and put our focus totally on him, our perception of God changes.. The nearer we get to Him, the bigger He appears in our eyes.

When we begin to see God for who He really is, our perspective on everything else in life changes in comparison to how big He is. It’s just like the concept conveyed in the beautiful song penned many years ago, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

Charles Swindoll, a well-known American author and speaker, once said that life is made up of 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. We can rarely control what happens in life, but we can control how we react to the situation – what attitude we will have, what course of action we will take. If we turn our eyes to Jesus and acknowledge that God is in control, we will see the situation through His eyes and from His perspective. If we draw close to Him & He draws close to us, ANY circumstance we face – no matter how big or seemingly insurmountable it seems to us – will pale in comparison to who our God is, how big He is and how capable He is.

Anything we get close to will APPEAR big to us. If you hold your tiniest finger (your pinky) close to your eye, your eye will perceive that it is really big. You can even block out large objects and whole human beings! This same concept holds true with the things we face in life. Whatever situation or circumstance that is close to us is going to appear really big and overwhelming to us. Unfortunately so many times we perceive God as smaller than He is because we have allowed our overwhelming circumstances and situations to close in around us, while we have failed to spend time with the Lord and press in close to Him. Imagine if we got as close to God as we possibly could, so close that He is ALL we can see. How much different would our perspective be on everything in life. The closer we get to God, the bigger He will be and the smaller everything else will appear to us. Our faith will be big, our outlook will be optimistic and any challenge will be conquerable.

What happened when Jesus asked Peter to step out of the boat and walk on the water with Him? As long as his gaze was fixed on Jesus he floated on the water like a buoy. The moment he starting worrying about the noise of the storm around him and looking at the wind and the waves he immediately began to sink. When he took his eyes off Jesus his fear grew and his faith shrunk. As soon as he locked eyes with Jesus again he popped back up onto the surface of the water like a buoy – his faith big again and his fear small.

There was a four-year-old girl who prayed this prayer at her dinner table one evening: “Dear Jesus, bless this food, bless mommy and daddy, and bless grandma and grandpa. And God, take care of yourself, too, ‘cause without You we’re all sunk! Amen.” In her innocent expression she wrapped up a profound truth – that we are nothing without God. Everything changes when He steps into the picture. Let’s determine to magnify the Lord and exalt Him with our lives. The bigger we see God, the bigger we will pray. The bigger we pray, the greater our answers will be.

We are very excited to be hosting the Northeast Worship & Media Conference in September. Phillips, Craig & Dean will be our featured guests for a ‘Friday Night LIVE’ worship concert, and many other reputable guest speakers, clinicians and worship leaders will be with us. Bring members of your worship team, audio & media crew and anyone else who wants to experience 2 days of great training interspersed with refreshing and energizing worship. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!Register Now

See ‘NE Worship & Media Conference’ link at top of page for more details…