I recently read an article by Andy Stanley entitled, “Music Matters”. He wrote, “I’m convinced that there’s something inescapable about music. It transforms words into lyrics. It changes walls into bridges. It turns listening ears into listening hearts. As a performer, as a listener, as a visitor who might end up in a most unexpected place on a Sunday morning, music has a transformational power. And it moves people in ways that even the best communicator cannot. Music matters. It’s not just songs. Or musicians. Or lights and equipment. Music is much more than that. Music is a doorway to worship.”

It’s true, music IS a strategic doorway to worship, but let’s not stop there. Music is a powerful tool that helps usher us into God’s presence, but it’s just a small piece of what worship really is and it’s only 1 doorway. Read the rest of this entry »

Something that we do quite often when learning a new song for our worship repertoire is first getting a copy of the new song in audio format (mp3, CD, etc) to the instrumentalists and vocalists on the worship teams.  Then they have the chance to be prepared to play the song including specific beats/rhythms, riffs, runs, etc.

We also many times will introduce the song to the congregation in the same way that it is played on the CD including those beats, riffs, runs and such.  We try to do the song very closely to what it sounds like on recording (at least for the first time) rather than putting our own spin on it.  Then after we’ve taught it one or two times to our congregation we can start putting our own arrangements together for it.

I find that doing this helps our musicians and vocalists grow by giving them more techniques to use in their own toolbox, helps them to be in sync with the team and learn what that feels like, and helps us as a team learn how to arrange the whole (rather than them seeing only their part).

One additional thing we do with new songs is playing them two weeks in a row or twice in the same month at the least.  The first time someone hears something they are learning, by the second time you do the song- they can start worshipping with it because its starting to become familiar.

Its not rocket science, but it works. What do your teams do to introduce new songs?

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.

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.