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

Preparing for Worship: prayer

One of the core values of ClearView is that we believe in the power of prayer. Admittedly we have not done a good job practicing corporate prayer.  This has become a major topic of worship planning meetings as we investigate ways to incorporate more prayer into our services.

 

In planning for this week’s service in our worship center, we have set aside a dedicated amount of time for prayer. This week’s prayer emphasis will be centered on the needs of ‘the people.’ At a planned time in the service our pastor, Mark Marshall, will invite those who desire prayer for a specific need to come to the front of the worship center where they will be met by trained prayer counselors who will pray with them.

 

So that these who choose to come down for prayer do not feel isolated, the entire congregation will be asked to stand and participate in the prayer by following the worship team as they lead in a song of prayer.

 

Prayer should be the foundation of any faith-based group and ClearView is not an exception.  The worship planning staff will continue to seek God on ways to add meaningful prayer times to the services in the worship center and chapel.

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Also this Sunday we continue in the sermon series, Songs for Summer, a study of selected Psalms. This week we dive into Psalm 107. You can be better prepared to absorb God’s word by reading this Psalm before arriving on campus Sunday.

Christ Follower + Worship + Leader Part 3

When we say we are Christ Followers it implies that we follow Him in all we do, not just when we around other believers. That includes our choice, or calling, to a specific vocation. For me the vocation happens to be in a church setting where my main goal is to engage others in meeting God in worship. I am striving to follow Christ in how I carry out those duties.

Leading Worship
I am one of ‘those’ people. You know the ones; went to church for an extended period of time in one church setting and then made a drastic change. For me the shift was from ‘Pentecostal’ to ‘Baptist.’ That history includes growing up, education and serving in one place and education and serving in the other. The years I spent in each worship experience has had a great impact on my life as a ‘worship leader.’

I am also one of those people who have endured the constant change of worship ‘styles’ in the local church. The pendulum has swung over the decades from traditional, to spectator, thematic to expository, no-choirs to choirs and everywhere in between.

It is really not about the swing of the pendulum, but about ‘making God’s glory known.’ The journey of the children of God leaving Egypt through the Red Sea was about making God’s glory known. Christ came to earth to show God’s power, to make God’s glory known. We have been redeemed to make God’s glory known.  Corporate worship is about making God’s glory known, through a conversation of revelation and response.

Sundays come once a week. It doesn’t matter what happens in between, Sundays keep coming. With every future Sunday comes a blank piece of paper.  What determines the elements we as ‘worship leaders’ place on that blank page? How are we deciding to hear and speak to God through revelation and response? 

Depending on your faith background your approach to the blank piece of paper will be different. Over the past years I have chosen to approach worship planning with these questions:

Is everything based on Scripture?

Do the elements chosen communicate and reflect the characteristics of God and the full story of salvation through Christ?

Do the elements of the service help people recognize God's presence and therefore connect people with God?

Is there something familiar to a large group of the congregation in the worship plan? -- Familiarity would be different for different age groups and church backgrounds or absence of a church background.

Does everything we do encourage people to participate? -- Worship is a verb, something to participate in and not to watch.

Do the elements of the service enhance or compromise the message? -- If there is any indication that an element gets in the way of the content then it should not be used.

Throughout the worship service, is time and opportunity given for people to...
-- voice praise?
-- voice thanksgiving?
-- hear God's Word?
-- respond to what they hear?
-- pray to God in a personal and corporate way?

As ‘worship leader’ it is my responsibility and great privilege to encourage the congregation to meet God in conversation. The above list of questions help me to keep that the priority.

Christ Followers, no matter where God has placed you in life there is a call to serve.  What questions are you asking yourself that help you stay focused on that goal?

Christ Follower + Worship + Leader Part 2

Here is another excerpt from an article I wrote for Creator Magazine. In this section I outline some life core values that help me keep balance in my life.

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Taking precedent over the vocation/ministry aspects of who I am is my call to be a Christ Follower. This is how I live my personal life, including how I feel called to lead my family. Eight life core values help me focus on what I believe God wants me to be:

 

Life Core Values

1. Developing a daily and eternal relationship with God.
2. Committed to my wife for life.
3. Committed to train up my children.
4. Recognizing God has called me to serve.
5. Always loving, honoring and learning from my parents.
6. Recognize my physical body is a gift from God.
7. Develop a hobby away from the work place.
8. Be a lifetime learner.

 

Living a life for Christ should be lived in balance; giving equal attention to the spiritual, social, mental and physical aspects of our being. As followers of Christ each of us are called to serve and that call never leaves our lives until we stand face-to-face with Christ. Therefore, we have the challenge placed before us to be an active, committed and effective follower of Christ for as long as we can. A balanced life is the only way.

 

I once heard it stated that finding God’s will is the ‘never ending search for His will.’ It is not somewhere we arrive but somewhere we are continually searching for. The same is true for finding a fulfilled life in Christ, a life of balance in His presence. Examining the core values above helps keep me on that path so that I can carry out what God has called me to do as a husband, father, and minister.

Christ Follower + Worship + Leader

I was honored to have an article of mine published in the last edition of Creator magazine. The title of the article is Christ Follower + Worship + Leader. The concept of the article is serving in a leadership position in a church is not an isolated life event but one that is a combined with everything else you do.

Here is reprint of the first few paragraphs of that article. (I will other portions of the article in the next few days.)

Only in recent years has the term ‘Worship Leader’ been used so extensively. In twenty-eight years of full-time ministry it is just in the last 5-8 years have I been referred to as ‘Worship Leader.’ Essentially the job description has never changed just the title.  The first title was ‘Minister of Music,’ the next ‘Minister through Music’ and today’s official title is ‘Associate Pastor/Worship;’ same degree, same job descriptions, different title.

No matter the title, my ministry role can be summed up this way: Christ Follower + Worship + Leader. I strive to live as a Christ Follower. I have a responsibility and privilege to lead my family as a Christ Follower. I said yes to the call leading and encouraging others to worship. I feel honored that God is allowing me to lead both staff and ministry teams. 

Worship Leaders, there is no way to separate who we are from what God has called us to do. Being called to lead and saying yes to that call impacts decisions we make in both our ministry role and at our home. The title ‘Worship Leader’ is not just what I do, but who I am.

(more to come)

Sabbatical: one more week

For the last eleven years I have served in a leadership position at ClearView Church in Franklin, Tennessee. Just recently it became the policy of this church to award a seven week sabbatical to any minister on the staff who has served for seven years. 

I began my sabbatical on May 27 with three goals: one to relax and unplug from the routine, two take some time to learn from other leaders and three study about some radical disciples in church history..  I believe I have accomplished these goals and still have one more week to go.

In the last seven weeks I have been able to:

• study church history through a trip to England and Scotland lead by two distinguished professors
• visit four churches seeing how God is using them to reach their community.
• interview thirteen business leaders focusing on their thoughts on leadership
• spend some time with my family on vacation

Tomorrow I take the last trip of this sabbatical time. My wife and I will fly to Seattle where we will board a cruise ship that will take us on a tour of the Alaska coast.

The sabbatical is coming to a close. I am grateful I have had this time and I look forward to being back with my co-workers and friends at ClearView on Monday July 20.

P.S. I will not be uploading another post to this blog until at least July 19.

A July 4th story from Kuwait

One member of the worship choir I lead, Rodney Whaley, is just about to finish a tour of duty with the United States Army in Kuwait.  He keeps us informed of the activities of his deployment by sending regular emails. Today he posted concerning about a 'two day late 4th of July' celebration.

Today one of those spontaneous “once in a lifetime” experiences happened.
 
Today is July 6th, two days after the 4th of July celebration.  This morning I got up at 0500 (5 a.m.) and proceeded to the gym to get some exercise.  I got there at 0530 and decided I would exercise on the elliptical machine.  The room has several elliptical and stationary bicycles.  We are also provided with television to watch to help the time go by faster.  This morning, the TV was on FOX News.  At 0600, Mike Huckabee came on.  I think it is called Huckabee and Friends.  He stated, as the show came on, that the program would be a tribute to our country with some interviews and some musical entertainment.  Now, keep in mind that what we are watching at 0600 (6 a.m.) is being broadcast on the east coast at 11:00 p.m., Sunday night, 5 July, and in Nashville at 10:00 p.m. Sunday night.  It also appeared to be a re-run from the night before, so it initially ran on the night of the 4th of July in the states.  I think.
 
So here we are, a bunch of soldiers,, mostly older soldiers, working out on these exercise machines, watching Mike Huckabee and his patriotic show.  He first interviewed an author, then had Lee Greenwood and his band sing and play.  Of course in Lee Greenwood tradition, the song was, God Bless the USA.  As the song began, we just continued exercising.  Beside me was this rather large, jolly man with a strong Spanish accent.  He appeared to be Puerto Rican.  When we got to the chorus, this man started singing to the top of his lungs, “I’m proud to be an American . . .” with this strong Spanish accent.  Then he stopped his machine and stood beside it at attention and continued to sing.  Suddenly, others stopped exercising and joined in.  I did too.  Then this big Hispanic soldier puts his arms around my shoulders in a “man’s hug.”  I sang louder.  So did everybody else.  All of the machines had ceased by this time and we all joined together, arms on one another’s shoulders singing, “I’ll proudly stand up, next to you, and defend her still today.”  These are soldiers who truly were “defending her today, this very day” on foreign soil in a combat zone.  The big guy beside me had tears streaming down his face.  So did others.  So did I.  Maybe not big elephant tears, but my eyes were beyond moist.  This room had a big glass front to it.  Across the hall, with a glass front was the weight lifting room.  By the time we hit the last chorus, the folks over there had stopped their weight lifting and were watching this little band of old soldiers, arms around one another’s shoulders, with tears in their eyes singing, “God bless the USA!”
 
When the song was over, we looked at one another like, “What just happened here!”  We got back on our machines, continued our exercise session, and FOX News went to a commercial.  It is a moment I’ll never forget.

Quiet Strength

On my last day at the beach I read Quiet Strength the story of Tony Dungy, the former coach of the Indianapolis Colts, told in his own words with the help of co-writer Nathan Whitaker. It is a story of leadership and dependence on God.

From the Foreword, written by Paulette and Denzel Washington, you sense the book is going to be much more than a story of a football coach. One of the last lines of the Foreward sums up much of the book: “The reward of remaining patient and obedient to the will of God is that life becomes fulfilling and satisfying…complete.”

A huge influence on Dungy was his parents, who modeled a relationship with Christ, who stressed the importance of education and who insisted on excellence in every endeavor. Here are two quotes from Dungy’s mother that are passed along to us in the book:

“Its always easier to do things the wrong way, but it’s always best to do them the right way.”

“Excellence that feels it has to be proclaimed, by the mere fact of its proclamation admits the doubt of its existence.”

As the football stories are told, Dungy, unashamedly repeats often his reliance on God for the ‘quiet strength.’ He also speaks plainly that winning isn’t necessarily God’s idea of success.  Here is how Dungy states this:

“God’s definition of success is really one of significance – the significant difference our lives can make in the lives of others. This significance doesn’t show up in win-loss records, long resumes, or the trophies gathering dust on our mantels. It’s found in the hearts and lives of those we’ve come across who are in some way better because of the way we lived.”

It is refreshing to see someone who lives his life in professional sports circles so grounded as a follower of Christ, husband and family man.

Dungy concludes the book revealing to the readers his life goal: “My purpose in life is simply to glorify God.” It might only be stated near the end of the book; however, it is perfectly clear through every page.

God saves men...

God saves men to make them worshipers.
AW Tozer

We are never nearer to Christ than when we find ourselves
lost in a holy amazement at His unspeakable love.
John Owen