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sitting here in union station at the buzz conference. great stuff so far. tim stevens really hit it out of the park in his first session, and i'm really anxious for craig groschel's talk in just a few minutes.
this is a quick post...ben is going to throw up some notes i think, so go and see his blog for thoughtful things.
more later...
last time i bought a guitar was in the 90's. :-) thanks to an unexpected blessing, my dry spell of new gear is over!!! its funny, i saw this guitar last week with no way to pay for it, and before i got the chance to pray for the finances to make it happen, God totally blessed our family with a little extra this month. so on my trip to guitar center for gaffers tape today...a guitar found its way into my trunk.
my friend brian at guitar center also hooked me up big time. God and brian...they make a good team. they practically gave it to me. now all i need a sweet amp.
it needs a name...any suggestions?
new spring recently announced that it is making their media resources available for free. good stuff. tony morgan has a great compilation of churches doing this same thing on his blog. this kind of thinking is absolutely inspiring to me. i think when the church can steward creativity in this way, the natural result can only be God providing that much more...
looking forward to heading over to the buzz conference this week. i love being able to go to a conference in our backyard. all of the great content, and i get to sleep in my own bed. woop.
Apple is set to release the much-hyped iPhone Friday, June 29. Here are some of its most highly anticipated features:
Tim Hughes has a good post on his values in worship. Here is his list:
1. Christ Centred
In Revelation 4 and 5 we see the worship that surrounds the throne; the 4 living creatures, the 24 elders, and thousands upon thousands of angels. What is the object of their worship? Who is it that lies at the centre of their worship?
'Then I saw a Lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne.' Rev 5:6
Speaking of the supremacy of Christ Paul writes in Colossians, 'He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.' Col 1:15-20
Our worship must be centred around the person of Jesus Christ!2. Holy Spirit Led
When we worship we must seek to be led by the Holy Spirit. He is the chief worship leader. It is the Holy Spirit that reveals Jesus, and through Jesus we can worship the Father.
As Richard Foster says of worship:
“It is kindled within us only when the Spirit of God touches our human spirit. We can use all the right techniques and methods, we can have the best possible liturgy, but we have not worshipped the Lord until Spirit touches spirit.”
As worship leaders we are left with 2 choices in the way in which we lead - initiation or response. Initiation is often how we lead, trying to force people into worship and making things happen in our own strength. Far the better way is to lead by responding to what the Spirit is doing. There lies the blessing. Bob Sorge helpfully comments,
“He [God] is honouring those leaders who are coming carefully into his presence, waiting upon Him to initiate toward us, and then helping the people to respond back to the Lord with their reciprocating initiative. In this model there is much less of a tendency toward hype because the Holy Spirit is seen as the one responsible for moving the people to worship - not the worship leader or musician.”
So when leading worship seek to be led by the Spirit. That involves asking questions - what are you doing today? Where are you moving? What response do you require of us?
3. Real
People often attend church tired, weary and broken. We must allow people space and freedom to be real and honest in their worship. God doesn't want us to pretend. In the midst of a suffering world, we must be up front that life at times is tough, but God is always good. An important aspect of worship is our honest and genuine response to God. Only then will we be able to find true hope and strength.
4. Intimate
John 15:15 says it all,
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his masters business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you.”
We are called into an intimate friendship with God. We don't just love and respect Him from afar; we can enter close and draw near. What an amazing truth. This is an essential part of our worship, allowing people to receive and respond to the incredible love and mercy God has lavished upon us. That is why we don't just sing about God, we sing to Him.
5. Sensitive
As worship leaders we need to be sensitive to those we lead. Not leading them aggressively or out of frustration, but out of love and gentleness. I think we need to lead with a 'gentle authority.' Sometimes this is hard when people seem slow to engage - if you're anything like me you get more and more angry with people. But actually I need to learn to be sensitive to where people are at, to pray that God gives me a love for them. Only then will I really be able to lead them into an engaged encounter of worship.
6. Transforming
Again Richard Foster comments in his fantastic book, 'Celebration of Discipline,' “Just as worship begins in holy expectancy, it ends with holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship.”Genuine encounters with God will leave us sharing in His heart for a broken world. We have to care for those around us - the last, the least and the lost. Worship can’t just be songs - it has to radically transform us and consequently impact society around us. As we see in Amos 5, songs without actions are a meaningless sound to God
“Worship without mission is self-indulgent. Mission without worship is self-defeating.”
I love this last comment. It is something that I am so passionate about. Worship at its core cannot leave us unchanged. If we are regularly coming before God in worship and are not motivated, challenged, or changed in some way to share the redeeming and transforming love of Jesus with those around us, then I wonder what we've been doing all this time...
my two girls are like many little kids...they love music, and singing "their songs" in the car. but to be honest, there is only so much of the "car songs" cd that a guy can take. that same melody with mind numbing lyrics are great for teaching kids to count and what people do on a bus, but come on...
recently in a moment of desperation i bought them this cd. it is still a bit kiddy, but oh so much better, and frankly it gets my brain churning on song arrangements, and how i can engage our congregation. i have for a long time really appreciated the occasional listen to a kids worship cd. there is a sense of freshness and excitement that happens in kids worship that i often long for in our adult gatherings.
sometimes i need to be reminded that i have a "super strong God." :-)
