A Passion2010 Review: Part 1

I had the opportunity to travel to Atlanta on January 1-5 for Passion2010 with three of our college students here at the church.  This was my first time to Passion and I was pretty excited as I have been listening to the Passion CD's since they first started coming out.  Much of the music that has come from that conference has been influential in my life and the life of the Church.  I was looking forward to also hearing the message that goes along with the music.

Our little group drove down to Atlanta to spare some of the cost and spent and night in North Carolina at the halfway point to make the 12 hour drive a little more manageable.  We stayed with our friends Jason and Krystal Goss.  Their hospitality was amazing!  We arrived in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon and it was freezing!  We knew it would be cold, but not this cold!  The high was never above 36.  I'm glad I packed a lot of long sleeve shirts because I only brought a windbreaker with me!

The music at Passion was amazing- which was to be expected.  My group began the conference in the Georgia World Congress Center where we were led by Charlie Hall and his band.  It doesn't seem to me that Charlie Hall gets the same publicity that David Crowder, Matt Redman, or Chris Tomlin get- but he may be my favorite out of the three (with Matt Redman coming in a close second).  I really like Charlie's approach to worship leading- and he has an amazing gotee!

The David Crowder Band was the late night concert in the Phillips Arena on Saturday night.  From all apearances, it seemed like a great concert- but we were stuck high above the speakers and could not hear clearly.  Every time Crowder spoke, it sounded like an adult speaking from a Peanuts movie.  Needless to say, it was my least enjoyable part of the weekend-even though it had nothing to do with Crowder!  We just had terrible seats.

On Monday, we were back in the Georgia World Congress Center and led by the Passion Supergroup featuring Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stainfill, Christy Nockels, and Matt Redman.  It was pretty cool to see them on stage together.  Tomlin and Stainfill are pretty demonstrative on-stage while Redman stands there strums his guitar, and sings.  It was an interesting dichotemy of worship leading styles.

Sunday night, we went to the late night concert featuring Hillsong United.  I thought about telling how we had floor seats, lost our floor seats because of a Passion communication glich, and then snuck into the concert because we couldn't attend the following night because we were heading home.  I won't tell you about that.  I'll just say that Hillsong United was great!  It was high energy, passionate worship.  I was pretty pumped that Brooke Fraser was there to sing "Hosanna."  That really made my night.

The new Passion CD with music from the conference comes out in March.  As someone who was not impressed with the last Passion CD, I think this one will be really good. 

Tomorrow- I'll be recapping some of the messages from Passion2010

Reflections from Sunday's Worship

It's 8:00 a.m.  Abbie is still in bed as she is sick this morning.  While I wait for her to wake up, I thought I would evaluate the 9:30 worship service where I preached.  If you read my previous post, you have a general idea of what I preached on.  In Advent week number 2, the lectionary focused on John the Baptist and his preparations for the coming Messiah.  So here are a couple of thoughts on the service.

Order of Worship-  I changed the order of worship around some this week.  It accomplished what I hoped it would (change of pace, more space for the sermon/communion). 

Environment-  I had my friend, Joe, bring in all sorts of construction signs and barrels to place throughout the sanctuary and hallway.  One of our high school students, David, dressed as a construction flagger and directed traffic in the hallway with his Stop/Slow sign.  All he needed was a lunchbag to look truly authentic.  The signs really piqued people's interest in what was going on that morning. 

When I came out for the sermon (I was hiding in the back room), I had on an orange safety vest and a hard had.  With my dark jeans and a tie, I said that I was the project foreman.  While it felt a little strange preaching in a hard hat- it couldn't have been stranger than John Wesley preaching on top of his father's grave stone!

Heat-  We have an old water boiler heat system.  And for some reason, it kicked out overnight and the sanctuary was really cold at 8:00 (even colder when I arrived at 6:45 a.m.).  When the boiler was reset, heat started pouring in- and it did not stop!  Our system tries to get the room to 68 degrees as fast as possible.  Which means that it's kicking out 80-85 degree's of heat.  It would take both hands to count the number of people I could see falling asleep at various times during the service- which may have been better than sweating as badly as I was because of the heat!

There are plans to replace this system in the relative near future.  I will be quite happy to have a trustworthy system in place so we don't have Sunday's like that.  No heat might have been better!

If you were able to attend the service, I'd love to hear your feedback!  As a staff, we're always looking to improve what we do.

Friday's Quotation: Matt Redman on Worship

"God imparts to us His heart for restoration, and a burning desire to see His love and justice heal the nations. But if we're really to have integrity in our worship, somewhere along the line this desire has to turn into action: share our food with the hungry, clothe the nake and satisfy the needs of the oppressed. We cannot be worshippers who simply walk by, ignoring the realities of this broken world. God longs to bring us to the place where we ache so much with His heart that to do nothing is simply no longer an option."


Matt Redman
In The Unquenchable Worshipper

Worship Resources

With my series on Worship coming to a close next week, I wanted to give a listing of some of the resources that have helped shape the series. This is a psuedo-bibliography. Don't let my seminary professors see this because I won't be formatting it correctly!

Books on Worship:

The Dangerous Act of Worship- Mark Labberton: This book really challenges the reader to put worship and social justice together. What good does it to worship God if we do not love and care for our neighbor? The first couple chapters are tough on churches, and rightfully so. We must move from consumer worship to worship that is centered around the things of God.

The Unquenchable Worshipper- Matt Redman: This is a small book with short chapters. Redman has written a couple books on worship since then, but none of them come close. This is just a great primer of what worship is supposed to be about. I've given out lots of copies of this book to people on the worship team.

Worship Matters- Bob Kauflin: I came across this book kinda randomly a few months ago, but it is a great guide to leading worship. Kauflin builds a theological foundation for worship, and then offers a lot of practical considerations for those who lead worship. I will be using this book with some students and worship team.

Songs Used During the Series:

There were two songs that were used during the series that I wanted to reference.

Sweetly Broken- Jeremy Riddle: This song appears on a Vineyard compilation CD of the same name. Powerful song. Go get it on iTunes right now.

Albertine- Brooke Fraser: Great song on a great CD. Brooke wrote and sings Hosanna on the Hillsong United CD's and the videos are below. This CD is packed with songs that make you think, and done with great musicianship.

Chaging Paradigms: Worship Pt. 1

A few days ago I wrote about changing the paradigm of various aspects of Christianity here in America. I want to begin focusing on the aspect of worship in our churches. Part of my responsibility at Avenue is to lead worship at two of our services, so I am pretty engrained into the weekly rythmn of worship in our community. But as I lead, I have become increasingly aware that there needs to be change within the arena of worship.

First, there is a consumeristic mentality within most congregations when it comes to worship. On Sunday morning, the average Christian in my setting (and I'm guessing elsewhere) comes to church looking to be 'fed.' I hear this on a regular basis; "I'm really being fed through the message," or "I don't feel like I'm being fed." Others say, "The worship (usually meaning music) didn't connect with me today." These are just a few things that you hear in a consummeristic congregation.

There is a great danger with this outlook that expects the church/pastor/worship gathering to do something for the congregation. The purpose of worship is not to be fed (although it will happen), but it is to direct all our praise and adoration to God. In worship, there is an audience of One. And each person who walks through the doors of the church are not the receiptient of the service, but are the givers. In Worship, we are to give our all to God.

How do we move from consumeristic worship to God-centered worship?

1. Our image of God must grow: For many of us, we have a view of God that is really small. We've lost touch with God's majesty, glory, and splendor. We easliy forget God's mercy and grace. When we have a better grasp of majesty, of God's 'largeness', then there is nothing we can do but to fall down in worship.
2. Our Worship Services Must Change: Probably 99% of our churches feature seats that face the stage where the pastor speaks from, much like a concert. Maybe we need to create churches that are circular in their seating so that we are more unified in our praise. We remember that we are a part of a community that worships.
   
   We also need to reexamine what we do in worship and the message it sends. Are things we do in worship focused on God- or ourselves?
3. We need to feed ourselves: For many in our setting (and I suspect plenty of others places), our people only crack their Bibles on Sunday morning. As pastors, and church leaders, we need to develop congregations who are studying the Bible, growing in small groups, and using their gifts in service. When this happens, then our worship services are not consummeristic, but become focused on God rather than ourselves. When we are more focused on God- we become more focused to bring God's Kingdom here on earth.

Changing Paradigms

When I graduated from Commodore Perry High School, one of our speakers spoke about changing paradigms. Back then, I really didn't know what a paradigm was, but now I have a better understanding of it. A paradigm is a model or an ideal. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a paradigm as "A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them, especially in an intellectual discipline." Each of us has a paradigm in which we view our lives.



Christianity in America needs to change it's paradigm.



I don't want this to just be a rant, but a conversation (maybe with myself), about some of the practices of American Christianity and what sort of change needs to be made. I read an article recently that Phyllis Tickle believes that we are on the cusp of another great religious reformation or movement. She said that a movement like this happens about every 500 years, the last being the Reformation where the Protestant Church was birthed out of the Catholic Church. This movement, she calls The Great Emergence, is also the name of her new book where she explains ways in which Christianity are changing (I'll be ordering that book soon).



What are some areas of Christianity that need to change? I'm hoping to give a brief description below, and then in the upcoming days/weeks, expound on them a little further.

1. Corporate Worship: How has corporate worship become about the traditions/things of worship rather than the object of worship (That's God). Does our worship gatherings really send us out to serve the poor, feed the hungry, or to bring justice to our communities? How do we move away from consumeristic worship gatherings where the congregates want fed? How do we re-connect worship of God and Social Justice?
2. How Christians Think: The beef sometimes is that Christians do not critically engage the Word of God, the Theology we believe in, the world we live in, or the issues that are before us.
3. Community: What does it mean to be apart of a community, especially in the facebook/myspace era? If we were really to follow what the Bible says, would community look different?

Those are there topics I've been thinking about. Some others might be Spiritual Disciplines or the environment. I'm sure there are others that could be discussed. But, we'll start with Worship later next week.

The CD Is In The Mail

Finally! The CD that our worship team recorded is in the mail to have the cover work designed and the duplication/packaging done! It has been a long process (Started in February). Still, I listened to it for the first time in a while the other day and really enjoyed it. It won't win any awards, but it is fun.

Here are a few shots from the photo shoot for the CD.

Guitars and Violin. The four of us (and 2 drummers) recorded most of the music for the CD.

I really like Steve C.'s (on the right) mischevious grin/smirk. He knows something you don't...that track #4 is absolutely smoking!

Um, how did I get in here?

Here's the entire team. Yeah, there are 10 of us.

Sunday Morning Review

This past Sunday was a busy one. I preached at all three services as well as led worship at the 9:30 worship time. Here's a breakdown.

Sermon: I thought the sermon went well. I messed with the message for two weeks, so I had a good grasp of the text. While I often try to keep a message to one main point, this one had two...but I don't think they worked against the other or was too tough to follow.

Music: The music facet of our worship time went well. We didn't do the 'normal' formula at the beginning. We started with "Wrap Me in Your Arms" moved right into "For These Reasons" and finished with "Forever". Our closing song was "From the Inside Out". There was a great atmosphere in the room as we worshipped.

Video Element: During our series, we've been showing video testimonies of members of our congregation. These testimonies have been great, and Sunday was no different.

Response: The response at the end was very good at 8:00 and 9:30. We had a time for healing and an opportunity to ask God to transform our lives. The 11:00 service is more resistant to response times. I was anticipating a response, but no one came forward at 11:00, which has happened several times before when the early services had a good response.

All in all, it was a good Sunday. An encouraging Sunday for me as I have really been frustrated lately. The only down side was that I got sick Sunday night (2:30 a.m.) and was chucking in the bathroom. Oh well, you can't win them all.

Working On...

I'm pressing on through a blah Tuesday. I'm tired (Thanks Abbie). My legs are tired (Thanks age and basketball). I'm cold (Thanks winter).

I have really done any worship evaluation lately. I'm not really going to do one today...just a general one from Sunday. Overall I would give the worship time a 7-8.5 out of ten. It was a moving time. The message was clear and there was a great response time. The music fit the theme and offered the people the opportunity to express their hearts. In hindsight, I would have changed the arrangement of the last song a little bit. It ended, well, awkwardly.

I am preaching on Sunday. I actually have a decent start on the message as far as study goes. I may try to start writing tomorrow. I am going to run with an idea that I have been cooking for awhile. So we'll see how it will go.

I spent some time with a member of our congregation today. He helped me out around the church and then we went to lunch. Despite a lot of negative things that have happened in his life, he has a strong faith and a desire to give back to God and the Church. Refreshing to hear in our consumer-church mentality that exisit today.

I will be writing more tomorrow about the upcoming sermon. It will help me get ready.

Are We Awake?

I've been continuing the book I began reading a while back called The Dangerous Act of Worship by Mark Labberton. It is a challenging look at worship in the American church and how what we do on Sunday morning is often detached from acts of justice and mercy.

Labberton writes that there is no right style of worship. It's not about traditional, contemporary, modern, post-modern, or emergent worship. These are all just forms to fulfill a function. The function is the worship of God the Creator which is done throughout our week.

Labberton writes:

"Everytime we meet in corporate worship, whether in our Gothic sanctuaries, our industrial park warehouses or wherever we gather to worship while violence, suffering and injustice don't imss a beat. Worship leaders especially may want to focus only on what seems cultuarlly and socially immediate. But if we ar coming to worship the Lord of all creation, the Savior of the world, then while we are setting up and checking the sound sytem or pondering prayers or sermons, we have to hold on to a wider vision of God's love, a set of very different circumstances and an outcome of our worship that is meant to land is in places of need."

Our church has been discussing why some churches grow and others don't. We have a few churches within three blocks of Avenue that are dying congregations while we continue to grow. I think it comes down to our passion for God, and our passion for his people. We (Avenue) began to grow when we started to develop a broader understanding of God's love and began to live in that love by serving others. This is not meant to be a how-to, but we have found that people want to be involved in a church that is taking part of something bigger than life. When we participate in God's work, that transcends our everyday lives as something bigger.

Sunday Worship in Review

Well, it's Monday afternoon, so i thought I would do a review of worship from yesterday morning. This particular Sunday was a blur! We had much going on. The four sections I evaluate are the provide the main structure for our service. As I look at the list, it seems strange that Joys/Concerns are there, but I use it because this is part of our growth as a community. If we are to grow together, we must pray together. So, without further delay...

Opening Worship: It was communion Sunday. On Communion Sundays, we put most of our music at the end of the service, as a response to Communion. (pretty novel idea!) We did "Meet with Me" and "All in All". Both are favorites of the congregation. The music sounded good (From the front of the stage) and people seemed to tune in to God's presence. This was the first Sunday of Advent, so a family lit the Advent Candle and we saw a brief video on Hope. 4.0/5.0

Sharing of Joys/Concerns: Lee led the Joys and Concerns time. There were many request. Winter seems to bring more prayer request as the weather changes. We did get a praise report of someone being cancer free! 4.0/5.0

Sermon: The sermon was short today because we were also doing a presentation in the Fellowship Hall on our proposed Building Expansion. But the short sermon was to the point. Earle spoke about responding to Jesus during the Christmas season. One downside was the because of our service structure on Communion Sunday's we moved right into Joys/Concerns following the sermon, which left little time to consider Earle's message and respond in our hearts (This should be corrected by January). 3.7/5.0

Closing Worship/Response: The Music sounded good, but the songs were a little disjointed. Communion seemed seperate from the sharing of the Word. It's hard to put a finger on it, but it could've been done better. 3.0/5.0

Worship Review

I wanted to take a quick review of worship @ the 9:30 service this morning. For the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I thought it was well attended and very full. Some people had trouble finding seats.



Opening Worship: Musically, I thought the praise team sounded good. It's so hard to see if people are getting into God's presence sometimes from the front. I would probably give it a 3.0/5.0.



Sharing of Joys/Concerns: This is one of my favorite times of the service. Today was awesome as many people share about what they are thankful for without anyone asking them to. It was started by a young boy (8 yr. old) who shared he was thankful for his family. It was just uplifting to hear everyone's thankfulness. 5.0/5.0



Sermon: Hmmmm....how do you rate yourself on the sermon? I thought it went well. The delivery was decent...it certainly could have been more polished. The content was alright, although I always wish after the fact that I would have put more time developing ideas and thoughts before hand. I think I fall into the trap of going with the first thought rather than developing the idea more fully. In all, I thought the sermon was ok. You can go to www.avenue.umc.org/listen later in the week to listen to the sermon. (Or search Avenue United Methodist Church on iTunes in the podcast to listen in. 4.0/5.0



Closing Worship: There was a nice response to the message. People brought there tithing committment cards forward to the altar (which was unrelated to my message). There were also many who came forward to pray about how to respond to Christ's birth this Christmas Season. 4.5/5.0



All in all, I thought it was a good Sunday, with a good challenge for us all to respond appropriately to God's love for us this Christmas Season.