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

Preparing for Worship, a promised gift received.

Tomorrow is the second Sunday of Advent. In the tradition where I worship Advent is not given emphasis in corporate worship other than the casual mention. In case you are reading this post here and don’t know the meaning of Advent here it is:

Advent is the beginning of the Church Year for most churches in the Western tradition. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas Eve (Dec 24). If Christmas Eve is a Sunday, it is counted as the fourth Sunday of Advent, with Christmas Eve proper beginning at sundown.
The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God.

You can see it in the eyes of children, they are waiting. The anticipation is about to get the best of them.  The days of December seem to travel in slow motion. Now can we imagine the years of waiting the people of Israel endured waiting for their Messiah. During this 2009 Advent season we do not have to wait for the Messiah, we now are remembering the events that brought the gift of promise.

Today as I finish my preparation for tomorrow’s worship services I don’t have to wonder if a Savior will be sent from God;He is here “Emmanuel.” The promised gift is a reality. How are you preparing for worship tomorrow? How are you personally reflecting during this Advent season?

   

Raising Up Worship Leaders

If no one had seen some potential in me or taken a chance and given me the opportunity to serve I would not be a worship leader today.  The older I get the more I am thankful that God put people in my life that did give me a chance. I am thankful I attended a church that took a chance, putting me on stage to lead a portion of the service.

 

It is the responsibility of the church and its leaders to mentor others in the specific tasks of leading others.

 

Today at the church I serve, ClearView, we are trying to be intentional about raising up worship leaders. We are investing in the musical training of children and we are giving our youth an opportunity to use the talents they are learning to lead their peers. A year ago we made a more intentional commitment to invest in the lives of middle school and high school students, to work with them and mentor them to help them become worship leaders. In just 11 months I have been able to witness youth go from being followers of an adult worship team to leaders of their own team. They have risen to the challenge and expectations presented to them. It took a commitment from the church and the passion of a leader, Alexis Cruz, who was willing to see potential and invest time.

 

Long before I arrived at ClearView they saw the need for mentoring youth and giving them a place to serve. Their investment is making an impact on our worship services and others. This Sunday we will start the services with the song “There Is None Like You" (Sovereign Lord)  co-written by Chad Cates who grew up at ClearView. This song is making an impact in many congregations. Chad has written many songs that are being sung by congregations around the country including “Father, Spirit, Jesus” which was recorded by Casting Crowns. I am glad ClearView invested.

 

The legacy of the church and the effectiveness of the church in the future will be influenced by how well we mentor our youth and young adults. I am thrilled that our youth want to be involved in ministry and I can’t wait to see how they will impact the church and worship of the future.

 

My prayer is: “God give us wisdom on how to mentor our students and young adults to be leaders today and tomorrow.”

Worship Services, what is the real purpose?

For the last few weeks in our worship leadership planning times we have been discussing the meaning of ‘worship.’ Some of the phrases that were presented were:

         Reflect the glory of God

         Ascribe to God honor and glory

         Engage in a conversation with God that includes times of listening and talking

        

If we were to ask the question ‘what is the purpose of a corporate worship celebration?’ many of our answers would be similar and be something like this: Our worship services exist to make God’s glory known and by our actions ascribe worth to him. Or… ‘the public declaration of God and our response to that declaration, done in a gathering of mostly believers and some non-believers in which the believers gain support for their faith and the non-believers witness an outward expression of conversation between the church and its savior.’

 

In February 2007, Starbuck Chairman Howard Schultz sent a memo to his CEO, that somehow found its way onto the Internet. In the memo, Schultz expresses concern that his company has veered from its original charter. He cited a series of internal decisions that eventually led to a dilution of what customers had come to expect from a visit to Starbucks.

 

Have we lost sight of that goal of our corporate worship experiences when we add ‘things’ of culture to make our services ‘relevant’?  W.A. Tozer wrote: The Christian church was never intended to function as a current events forum.

 

There are many things we have added to our corporate gatherings that by themselves have tremendous value, but often take away from the conversation of worship.

 

Do we really need

announcements for up-coming events to take time from the conversation?

 

a movie clip that we think is cute?

 

a special occasion song just because it brings warm memories to our minds?

 

a skit that might have some small link to the theme of the day?

 

recognitions of birthdays or anniversaries?

 

None of the items in this list are bad, but I believe we need to evaluate what we allow to take up time in our services that are not really worship.  What we do need to reserve time for are:

 

         Prayer

         Ascribing to God Worth

         Praise

         God’s spoken Word

         God’s word explained

         Opportunities for response

         Time for reflection

Preparing for Worship, reading God’s Word

One of the things I was looking forward to at Catalyst Conference 09 was the opportunity to hear Francis Chan speak.  I have been a big fan of his since reading his book Crazy Love.  This book sneaks up on you, slaps you in the face with a challenge to be a New Testament Christian.

 

So what did Francis Chan challenge us with: the Bible. You see he had been asked to lead a service of worship and communion for 13,000 people at Catalyst. As a part of the service he asked everyone just to listen, not follow along but listen to him as he read Romans Chapter 5. It was very moving to sit in the silence of 13,000 and hear God speak through His word.

 

This Sunday at my place of worship we too will celebrate communion. And in preparation for that service I am re-reading Romans 5 and 6.

• While we were helpless…Christ died for the ungodly.
• While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son
• If we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection.
• …the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Take a few minutes before this day fades away, sit in silence and read Romans chapters 5 and 6. What great promises…what a great reality.

Reaching an Un-reached People Group

Yesterday at ClearView I had the opportunity to explain to our people why our pastor was out of town.  The reason: he is in Mali West Africa on a Missions Exploration trip, investigating how ClearView can make an impact for Christ on an un-reached people group. The definition of an un-reached people group is a village that has never heard the message of Jesus Christ. It is almost hard to believe that in this age of technology and ease of travel that there are groups who have never heard, but that is the still the case.  It is our desire as a congregation to be an instrument that helps reach these people for Christ. We understand this could be a long process but we are willing to make that investment.

 

Just this morning we received the first update from the group that our pastor is traveling with. Here is that update:

 

Yesterday the first to members of the TN team visited a Jula village.  They were welcomed to visit and had the opportunity to share two stories with the chief and others.  After sharing the DPM story, they were able to share the panorama story of C2CR.  The chief stopped them in the middle to ask a very important question, "How many sons did Abraham have?" "What were their names?"  He was checking to see if we were talking about the same Abraham as they know who fathered Ishmael.  They were allowed to finish the story explaining about Father's design and plan for each of our lives.  Even though those who heard were not receptive, they each had the opportunity to here the Truth.  Men were sent, they have heard, but they did not receive.  Ask Father to remove the scales from their eyes of the Jula that they may see and repent.  Ask that His words may never leave their minds and that as they dwell on what they have heard, they will receive.   

 

The rest of the Tennessee team finally arrived at 6:30am.  They four men are exhausted.  We will be dividing up into two teams, loading vehicles and heading out at 10am.  Please pry for these 4 who just arrived especially that they will quickly be refreshed and adjusted to the time and climate.  The other two men arrived two days ago and are ready to go.  Ask Father to go ahead and behind us to hem us in with His protection as we travel and for each of us to have a keen, sensitive spirit of discernment to know His voice and to recognize the man of peace in each village we enter.  Ask for openness among the people to hear and receive Father's Words.  We will be visiting and staying the night in each in the villages of the following people: Bolon, Dafin, Senufo Syenara, Gana.  Pray that each of these pastors will have an acute awareness of Father's presence and instruction concerning who His choice is for their individual congregation to work among.

 

We echo the prayers of this missionary from Mali as we pray for our pastor and the others pastors who are with him.

Advice for a Young Worship Leader: smile

I can remember as if it were yesterday, when it was actually over thirty years ago. As a high school student my local church asked me to lead worship for the services. I can’t remember if I was given this chance because they recognized some talent or I was their only choice. (It was a very small church.)

 

We were having dinner with some family friends and without fanfare or introduction the lady made a comment about my leading: ‘you need to smile when you lead. Worshiping the Lord is something to smile about.’

 

Today, thirty years later, I am a worship leader at a local church and almost every week I am reminded by that memory the importance of communicating not just through words and melody but with our body language.

 

I know there are songs that don’t call for a smile, but your face and body expression still need to communicate.

 

I am amazed at how many people can make great music and communicate effectively through the words and melody and yet stand motionless without a smile while they sing. Honestly, this is the wrong person to have on stage leading. Being a worship leader means communicating and great communication must include pleasant body language that states I believe what I am singing about and I believe in the God I am singing about.

 

Smiling while singing did not come easy for me, it is something I had to practice. Yes I practiced this. I wanted to make sure that how I presented myself on stage did not hinder someone else from worshipping.

 

Is it time we look at the people who lead or help us lead worship each week? Don’t we need to see how they are communicating? It is more, much more than making beautiful music.

Preparing for Worship: one voice together.

I love the scene described in II Chronicles 5: 13-14.

 

Everyone had come together to celebrate God and His faithful love: the singers, the instrumentalists and the priests. In one translation the phrase ‘one voice’ is used to describe the scene.

 

More amazing than the mass of persons participating in this celebration was their response when the very presence of God was recognized: “the priests could not continue their work, as the glorious presence of God, filled the temple.”

 

Tomorrow thousands of places of worship will welcome hundreds of thousands of people through their doors. Will we enter expecting to find the presence of God? If we realize that He is present in our midst what will be our response?

 

The scene at my place of corporate worship tomorrow will be a little like what is described in the mentioned scripture. There will be trumpets, cymbals, woodwinds, singers and the ministers to lead through the service. Honestly, it is a lot of fun to have that many people helping to lead the worship experience, but all of this is useless unless we are doing it for the right reason: ‘together as one voice, helping people to recognize the very presence of God.’

Related Posts:

Preparing for Worship…a Saturday Night to-do list

Preparing for Worship…Am I too Comfortable?

Preparing for Worship…prayer

Preparing for Worship: a Saturday Night to-do list

Here is a to-do list that I will work through before going to bed tonight that I hope will make me better prepared for worship tomorrow.

 

1. think through my early Sunday morning routine, making sure everything is ready
2. read through the scripture passages of the last few weeks’ sermons, remembering the last sermons and what God said to me during those study times.
3. read ahead in the book of the bible we are studying (Genesis) asking God to speak to me as I read
4. pray and ask God to prepare my heart to be ready to receive what He has for me in service tomorrow.
5. look over the worship outline, praying for everyone who will participate
6. pray that God will use me to help lead those who attend into a worship conversation
7. pray specifically for my pastor that God will continue to give him clear direction about tomorrow’s sermon
8. pray for everyone who will attend the service that they will come ready to meet God
9. pray for those who may come to service tomorrow who do not have a personal relationship with God, that their heart would be open to hearing from Him.

 

Do you have a Saturday night routine? How do you prepare for Sunday worship?

Leading a Worship Planning Meeting

I work with an amazing group of people who make up the worship planning team. Each week we, the worship leadership team, meet to review and discuss the worship experiences at ClearView. When these meetings began a few years back, they were about going over every detail of the service. They have now evolved into something bigger and I believe more important: communicating about the why and less about the how and what.

Granted the ‘how’ and ‘what’ are important. We do understand the need to make sure we have the appropriate elements planned and that all the details are covered.

Much more important than the ‘how’ and ‘what’ is the ‘why.’ The ‘why’ list for us would include:
•    ClearView Core Values:
    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
•    Understanding a biblical definition of worship which would include conversations around such words as ‘reverence’ and ‘relevance.’
•    Vision for each worship venue.

It is our role as worship leaders to evaluate everything in our area against the above ‘why’ list. Once we have used the ‘whys’ we then can get to the ‘what’ and ‘how.’

Preparing for Worship: Am I too Comfortable?

It is Saturday again and in just a few more hours many will gather in buildings around this country for worship services.

 

I have to admit I live a very comfortable life. God has graciously provided for my needs and a multitude of my wants. The same can be said for most Americans. A quick inventory reveals we have much more than the majority of the Earth’s population.

 

With that said I raise the question: does our comfortable lifestyle and things make it hard for us to cry out to God in worship?

 

In the book The Hole In Our Gospel, the author Richard Stearns, president of World Vision describes an African church:

·         A small congregation of fifty that meets under a large shade tree because they have no building.

·         They work the land to provide the food they need to survive.

·         They rely on God for every mouthful.

·         They have endured two decades of civil war, every family has suffered loss

·         Clean water is not available

·         Most live on barely a dollar a day.

 

In the midst of this hardship the author goes on to describe their worship:

·         There is great joy in their worship as these people cry out to the Lord and feel His comfort in the midst of their need.

·         This small community comes together to worship and to celebrate the gospel.

 

As Americans what will be our attitude as we enter places of worship tomorrow? More importantly what will be my attitude?  Am I truly grateful for the reality of a relationship with the One who has forgiven me? Am I so comfortable with my life that I minimize the gift of grace?

 

God help me that I don’t become too comfortable with the things you have provided to loose sight of the salvation You have given by Your sacrifice.