Michael's Notes - Thoughts On Worship, Leadership & Fitness

Sing...

"Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength."

John Wesley

‘Twas the day before Thanksgiving

‘Twas the morning of thanksgiving

and all through the house

not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.

 

Well, not really.  As usual I am up before anyone else and as usual I only have a few minutes without others stirring until the dog wants to join me. Today will be a little different as our friends have come to visit and one of them will be up soon. But on this morning I want to stop and list a few things that I am thankful for.

• one more Thanksgiving Day that I can enjoy.
• A wife who loves me and supports me and who has done so for over 26 years
• A healthy family
• A wife and children who have personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ
• Parents who continue to lead lives as examples for my family
• Blessings of the necessities of life
• Blessings of many wants and desires that I do not deserve
• People who I work closely with who are not just co-workers but friends

This list could continue for many more pages, but for today I stop with this final item.

“Thank you God for allowing me to witness life through Your Son and that you have given me the honor to know You as Father, Savior, Friend and One who has given me the privilege to serve You.

A Father's Wish

Two Sundays ago I was given an amazing gift.  As I was on stage leading worship I looked out to the audience and spotted my children. My daughter was home for the weekend from college and my son was in his usual spot. They attended different worship hours, but I saw them both. What made this father thankful was what I saw, my children engaged in worship; my son singing and clapping and my daughter singing and at one point her eyes closed and I could tell she was really communicating with the Almighty. What more can a father wish for?

 

As a father I often wonder if I have done enough of the right things, taught my children what is important and led them to understand the things of God.  I still ask myself those questions but witnessing the events of last Sunday helped me see I just might have got some things right and I will continue to try to be the father that my heavenly Father wants me to be.

ClearView's Core Values

For the last 10 years I have had the privilege to serve on staff at ClearView Baptist Church in Franklin, Tennessee. In that span of time I have been able to witness God at work. Henry Blackaby states the principle in Experiencing God that it is our job to seek God and then be open to His invitation to get involved where He is working. That’s how I feel about my ministry at ClearView. God was working, is working and He has invited me to join Him.

Just recently we have defined the core values that we stand on and use as a basis for all our ministries. Here they are:

• The authority of God’s Word…it is God’s word
  •     2 Timothy 3:16
  •     “It is the substance of our teaching”
    •     2 Timothy 4:2
• Worship in Spirit and Truth
  •      John 4:24
• Transformed lives impacting their spheres of influence
  •     Ephesians 6:19-20
• Taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth starting at home
  •     Acts 1:8
  •     Romans 10:14
• Saturate everything in prayer
  •    Ephesians 6:18

These core values reflect a tag line that we have begun to use around here:

 Passion for God…Compassion for others.

We want to worship and serve God with passion and as we grow as His disciples we reach out to those who do not know Him as we do.

It is a real honor to serve at a church whose direction is clear and focused on God’s Word.

Preoccupation with God...

We are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.

A. W. Tozer

Choir Retreat: recap

I am sitting by my fireplace and TV thinking about the good time I had last night and this morning with friends and fellow ministers that are the worship choir at ClearView. This weekend of November for the past several years has been designated as ‘choir retreat.’ Usually we take the whole time to prepare for our Christmas presentation.  This year we got that accomplished and we also spent some time evaluating the current state of our ministry. I was very pleased at the openness with which the choir expressed their desire to see the choir continue to be an important part of the worship at ClearView and to hear their ideas for making it better. Over the next few weeks we will be putting into place a plan to evaluate all the ideas and take steps toward putting into action the ones that will help us be the best we can be for the God’s glory.

 

In a day when many churches have decided not to invest in a choir ministry, ClearView has decided there is value in a choir’s ministry. The ClearView choir is one of the ministry groups in the worship ministry. These groups’ role is to forward the vision of ClearView.  Just recently that vision has been described with these words:

ClearView exist to make radical disciples,

 focused on making God known

 to the ends of the earth.

 

The vision of the worship ministry is:

Using the creative arts

to communicate the never-changing message of God’s love,

encouraging persons to use gifts and talents to glory His name,

and lead others to do the same.

 

The worship choir at ClearView is open anyone who loves to sing and is passionate about serving God.  A few weeks ago I posted a blog that shares my beliefs on who should sing in the choir.  These three statements were the basis:

• People who are passionate about God and live a life of worship

Worship is more than Sunday morning, it is about being a follower of Christ…it is about making everyday decisions that reflect Christ. 

• People who enjoy singing

Sometimes people join the choir just because they love to sing, but it is our desire that through the fellowship, prayer, worship and discipleship of the choir this becomes more about worship than just about singing.

• People who feel called to lead others to be passionate worshippers

The choir is a ministry, and to be involved and fulfilled in a ministry there must be a sense of calling.  Choir is about giving people a place to use their talents and desire to serve God by encouraging others to do the same.

 

I have been amazed at what God has done at ClearView in the ten years that I have been a part of its ministry. I am looking forward to what God has in store for us and I am excited about the future of the worship choir.  It is a real joy to be called leader of this group.

Worship is...

Worship is the act of magnifying God. Enlarging our vision of him. Stepping into the cockpit to see where he sits and observe how he works. Max Lucado

Leadership Behaviors: invest in others

People invested in me, God used people in my life to help lead me on the ministry path that I have been traveling. There are two specific: small home church and David Horton. In the small church that I grew up in, someone saw potential in the gifts God had given me and because of that they were willing to put me in a place to use those gifts. When I was in high school my home church asked me to lead a portion of each Sunday morning service. I’m sure I was not the best they had but they gave me a chance. Then as I was about to finish college a professor of mine asked me to fill in for him in a leadership position. In both of these situations people took the time to invest in me. These are just two examples of many that I have been fortunate to experience.

As I lead I have learned that the greatest asset available to me is the people that I work with, minister to and lead. In the book The Heart of the Executive by Richard D. Phillips the life of David is examined as an example for leadership. One of David’s early assignments was that of a shepherd, leading sheep through some dangerous places and times. David knew that “for the shepherd, the product is the follower.” The same should be said of any kind of leader. Guiding those individuals entrusted to him to safety in times of trouble; leading them to still waters to find basic nourishment and leading them to green pastures to find food that will help them to grow.

I believe you must get to know the people you lead so that you will understand what kind of food (training, encouragement, direction) they need. And it is very evident if you have ever had the opportunity to lead that everyone needs something different, responds to different rewards, needs different training and sometimes needs to be directed to a different position. This information will not be known until you take the time to know and then invest in those you lead. Gaining this type of information takes intentionality and spending time with those you lead. The more people that I have on my staff the more time I spend in meetings or lunches with these people, not for meetings sake or even for production sake but so that I can get to know those I lead.

If a leader models this kind of caring for those he works with then what will be produce will be capable followers who can produce an unbelievable product because they are a well functioning team. “When the sheep grow strong, when they survive the hazards of the journey, when they return to the village transformed from lambs into strong rams, then the shepherd has faithfully and successfully discharged his duty….the shepherd is the servant of the sheep; it is their growth and nurture that define his task and set the agenda for his success.” The Heart of the Executive p. 7

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. Until I get there, focus on reading the Scriptures to the church, encouraging the believers, and teaching them. I Timothy 4:12-13

 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. John 12:24

Living a Life of Worship

Earlier today I was checking some blogs and came upon this quote about living a life of worship on Vicky Beeching's blog (http://vickybeeching.com/)

Living a life of worship is NOT primarily about singing! We sing as the overflow of our actions, and we sing to draw near to God to fill us up. But only so that He can SEND US OUT! Sung worship is the commissioning BEFORE action, and the celebration AFTER action. Its not, on Earth, supposed to be purely an end in itself.

I like that...

Leadership Behaviors...accept instruction

This is a continuation of a series of posts laying out some Leadership Behaviors that I try to model to both the staff and volunteers I lead. 

 

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” or “You are never too old to learn.” I am going with the second statement.  You might not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but I don’t think you are ever too old to learn. The older I get the hungrier I get to try to better myself, learn new things related to the career I am in or learn new things just for the fun of it.

 

As it relates to my job, the place God has given me to minister, I try constantly to learn new things, evaluate old things and listen carefully to what others say to me so that I can be what God wants me to be.  As I get older I want to make sure it is not said of me that I am stuck in the past or ‘he has not changed how he does things in years.”  There is value in remembering the past and building on the past and bringing into the present the very best.

 

Another way I want to be open to instruction is be willing to listen to the ideas and critique of those I work with.  Most certainly that critique comes from the supervisor but some of the best critique comes from my peers and those I supervise. The hardest part of accepting this type of instruction is stopping and listening.  This is where I have to constantly remind myself to engage and be intentional in conversations, whether they transpire in a meeting or in the hallway.

 

My prayer is that I will always have a desire to learn. I will continue to pray that God will open doors for me to learn the things that will give me better insight to serve Him better.

 

 

Jeremiah 32:33

My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return. Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey

 

Proverbs 23:12

Commit yourself to instruction; listen carefully to words of knowledge.

 

Proverbs 19:27

If you stop listening to instruction, my child, you will turn your back on knowledge.