Worship Moment Wednesday.
This past weekend I had the privilege to lead at the House in Kelowna. It is by far my favorite place to lead. There is a freedom in this place for people to come and encounter God with a freshness and a hunger to go deeper that most don’t find elsewhere. There is a community of passionate young people who want to worship and leave changed by the Spirit.
This past weekend was no exception. I had the pleasure of gathering a band full of talented friends who frequently blow my mind when we play together. Our hope was to lead hearts into something new and bring this room into THE throne room.
Our song list.
He is Faithful – Bryan and Katie Torwalt
You are Good – Brian Johnson
Cannons – Phil Wickham
Holy Spirit – Bryan and Katie Torwalt
Break Every Chain/Draw Me Close – Will Regan/Katinas
Spirit Break Out – Worship Central
Our God/Hallelujah – Tomlin/Cantelon
Because I knew a number of these songs were new to the House I wanted to make sure that there was enough repetition and “hooks” that could easily be learned and sung out. And I was blown away on how the room responded. There was a surreal energy in the room as we with full voice sung lines singing the attributes of God.
Lines like
“He is freedom, He is healing right now, He is hope and joy, love and peace and life!”
and
“Let us become more aware of your presence, Let us experience the glory of your goodness”
and
“Our Father, all of Heaven roars Your name. Sing louder, let this place erupt with praise.”
There were specific moments where I felt the atmosphere in the room change. Moments where I saw the room move from simply singing lyrics to full out breathing life into these truths. It is really and indescribable but tangible shift that happened.
What I wasn’t expecting was a broken high E string right after the first song, cracky voice singing the octave up and my own personal emotions mixed into it all.
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t perfect.
But it was pure.
It was worship.
It was anointed.
And it was powerful.
Special thanks to Ed and Chad for the opportunity to serve with you guys as you lead the House. Thanks to Karsten(drummer), Jaron(electric), Ryan(electric), Connor(keys), Steve(bass) and Brittany(lady vocals). I love leading you and with you.
M
Cultivating Talent In A Limited Pool…
So you having talent like this in your church…. Fantastic… What do you do?
I grew up in a small church in rural Saskatchewan. Usually when asked about the culture of a smaller church you will hear fantastic stories about Community, Family Oriented Serving Opportunities and the almost weekly Pot Lucks in the church basement. One other word that I hear more often than not is the word “lacking” in regards to the music and arts of the small church.
Within the small church I grew up in, we had a surprising amount of musically gifted people, which is usually uncommon for a church of 130 people or so. I had the privilege to be a product of the small church, to be grown and mentored into the man, worshiper, musician and worship leader I am today. Through the countless opportunities to serve, play out of tune, sing wrong lyrics, break hundreds of strings and still receive hugs and encouragement from the congregation to which I will be forever grateful.
Now, as great as that is, every church deals with growth pains.
The question many Worship Pastors and Volunteer Leaders ask is “How do I cultivate talent within my limited pool?”
And as I’ve asked this question myself and to a number of friends here’s what I’ve come up with.
Time – There’s the saying that “time heals all wounds” to which I reply, YUP! For many worship pastors they are in it for the long haul which means they have nothing but time to develop in house talent. The problem which many run into is the dedication it takes to time commitments and impatience. We wish we had musicians who just magically understand music and can play most everything. But that is not the case. As leaders we have to lead and understand that countless hours of running the various instrumentals over and over again to hit that solo will be in the long run worth it.
Excellence – This in fact is always a balancing act in most churches. Where do we draw the line between excellence and performance. As lead worshippers we do not want to simply preform a worship song, but lead the church into an authentic God encounter through the act of worship. In order to do so we need to be aware of the various man made distractions that so often we as musicians bring into the mix.
We serve a God who wants our hearts. And it should be our hearts desire to give God our very best. Often times in smaller churches I hear from musicians, “Well, its good enough for church.” This NEEDS to change. Every time we go on stage we must understand that we are serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and our attitude of “good enough” cannot be an appropriate response. This is one of my bigger frustrations.
Relationships – My friend Josh responded to this question so beautifully when he said that “the people serving with you need to feel that they are apart of something bigger. A family to support and encourage and a vision they can follow.” Often times I find myself joining a team with very little vision and goals set. It feels week in week out grind where we come in play through the set and then leave. We all have lives to get back to, however I have found that if there is no relational piece to the team that the bar is already set before you as a leader can try to set the bar yourself. As leaders and pastors we must be constantly building towards the relational rather the building toward the Sunday service. One amazing way to remedy this is to encourage your players to play together outside of the worship gig. Jam nights not only are fun, but you get to see the other sides of your players. So play together often and in various scenarios.
Mentorships/Training – I love mentorships. I find that if I can surround myself with 3 or 4 men in various walks of life that I can give full authority to call me out and kick my butt when I need it but most importantly to speak life and encouragement into me, is the crux of how I tick. We need to develop the attitude within out teams of “I’m never there yet..” because through a desire and hunger to get better do we see growth form in exponential ways. Because once we think we’ve made it we begin to go backwards. I try to encourage the people I play with to expand their horizons and to monthly do something different within their gifting.
Heart – You know cousin Billy who really wants to join the worship team and has been quoting scriptures to you about the Heart of Worship and tells you that his role model is David because he was the man after God’s own heart. You know that cousin billy also can’t carry a tune or plays only heavy metal electric guitar or pan flute or thinks he has a voice like Bieber but its more like a tortured cat. These types of people are in every church. They are in many cases most worship leaders nightmares because we all hate telling them the truth about their gifting.
Truth is. I believe these people are some of the diamonds in the rough that you may be looking for. As this ties in with the whole “Time” category above I believe that there is something so special about a Passion to worship. Finding a person who is so in tune with what God is doing in and amongst them through worship is something we as leaders often deem as eccentric or “special”. These are the people you want to build into and attempt to develop into musicians. Trust me, finding passion and building talent is way easier than finding talent and trying to build passion.
Wait – Don’t rush the release. This was something I had to learn myself. So often we as musicians look to jump in and showcase our gifting and talents to the world. Where as leaders we need to be able to allow timing, fit and divine go ahead to play a part as well. Because most worship pastors are looking to “fill spots” they will pick and release players who aren’t quite ready yet to be released. Although the role is somewhat filled for that weekend it does cause issues later down the road. As leaders make sure we are not simply “filling spots” but rather hearing from God when the right time to release some players into the mix. This needs to be part of the vision you instill in your volunteers.
Celebrate – Lastly, make sure you celebrate the wins as they will always be overshadowed by the few misses in the arts culture. We live in a society so quick to scrutinize and criticize our gifting and talents. Just because we can’t sound like the next Jesus Culture or Chris Tomlin doesn’t mean that people are not being blessed by you and your team serving week in and week out. Unfortunately, we as musicians are often more sensitive to criticism than others so we need to encourage one another more often than not. For those of you reading this who aren’t involved in the music side of church, PLEASE encourage your worship leaders, musicians and pastors. We are a fickle bunch and often it hurts wearing our hearts on our sleeves in front of you.
Regardless of your talent pool, it should not have to equal your church size or structure. Through building and investing into your team with some of these values focused on you will begin to see an increase in not only gifting, but also in a willingness to serve and a passion to worship.
Let me know your thoughts.
M
New Music Monday…er…. Tuesday?
So yesterday (Monday) was a travel day and I didn’t put the post together in time beforehand to automatically post for me…
So here is some tunes for you this Tuesday. The band is called “All sons and daughters” and a shout out to Steve Wicky for pointing them out for me. So solid.
Enjoy.
M
“Dress for Success”
So as some of you may know, I am in the process of looking for a career. Something that will set me up and continue me on the path down towards my calling as a Worship Influencer. This is a term I just came up with on the spot and it needs to be fleshed out a bit before I 100% claim it. But thats neither here nor there right now.
I was given a newspaper article from a family member a while back about how to approach job interviews and employers and essentially “put the best foot forward”. Now, normally I disregard these types of Joel Osteen’esk “Be the best you!” type of books and columns. But in desperate times come desperate measures. And one of the first rules was “Dress for Success”. Now, we can’t all look like Will Ferrell and walk into a office building demand a job and they give him the corner office, but I think I can try…
The article went on how you are always suppose to dress for the job you want and not the job you have. But then my logical and often sarcastic mind wanders and I start picturing guys cleaning out septic tanks in 3 piece suits. I guess there’s exceptions to every rule.
When I hear the phrase ‘dress for success’, it brings images of ‘power suits’ and pinstripes. (and when I hear the word power suit I somehow picture Hillary Clinton, weird.) We live in a culture where the pressure of “looking the part” has made many people a slave to the opinions of others. People will spend lots of money to assure that they appear ‘put together’ and to keep the appearance of success. I actually was told once that men should average spending $300 per month on clothing. WHAT!?! Who has that kind of money to spend on that? The truth is that, while appearance is of some importance, don’t get me wrong, it is the inner-life that really matters.
1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
So, how to respond? How should we dress?
Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV)Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
The pressure is off to perform for others. It is simply because of love that we respond by ‘putting on’ these virtues. And my favorite part of it is that “love binds them all together.” My prayer is that the life of Christ inside of us with be the thing that people see the most. Colossians 3:3-4 says that …your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. I believe that we will shine with God’s glory when we are clothed with the love of Christ. I pray that when people see you they really see Him.
Amen.
M
Dispel the Darkness.
In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.
The Earth was Blank. Void. Dark.
And God said, “Let there be Light”. And there was light that covered the earth like a rushing flood. And God said, “It is Good.”
The reason for this blog post is because I have been chatting over the past month or so with a number of people who deal with nothing sort of extreme darkness that encase their lives. As I sit and listen to the heartache, the pain (physical, emotional and spiritual) and the listen to the stories that will forever shape and define aspects of their lives forever I come to realize that only when we are broken can we begin to see the Light.
I’ve mentioned over and over again on how my heart burns for the local church. I strongly believe that the local church will be the catalyst to which Christ has, is and will redeem the generations.
Yet.
I also have said time and time again that we live in a culture and society that in all reality has no physical need for a Savior.
To explain, we live in a country with a church on every street corner that gathers for a hour a week on a Sunday to attempt to meet the spiritual needs of those in the pew. I say “attempt” because I believe in all reality that we gather to a large part out of our own graces and our own strengths, celebrating togetherness in our glorified social club for the sterilized. We give out of our wealth of finances, time and energies and then cower behind the excuse of business.
Now before my generalizations turn you away from continuing to read this, I don’t write this to offend but rather plead with you AS THE CHURCH.
WE CAN DO BETTER.
Not only that but, WE ARE CALLED TO BE BETTER.
I heard a sermon preached the other day on Isaiah 60 1-3 which resounded so loud and clear. The verse are the following.
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.Isaiah 60:1-3
A few things that stood out for me were the fact that we are called to Arise. Why? Because we are/were sitting or laying down. We are called to our feet, called to a state of readiness and to action. Secondly we are called to Shine. Why? Because we aren’t currently. Simple enough.
The church is more than a gathering of like minded individuals to talk about the weather or sports, sit and listen then leave til next week. (Again, I state an extreme generalization)
Rather, the church is suppose to ARISE and SHINE to dispel the darkness. To become beacons for those around to run to. So that they may see His good works and praise the Father.
This is who I want to be. This is who I want my church to be. This is who I want YOU to be.
Amen.
M
New Music Monday…
Enjoy some tunes that blow my mind this week. And since the golden globes were on… theres a soundtrack theme of some amazing flicks…
M
If you could fix…
If you can fix one problem you run into frequently what would it be??
Me? I would likely fix the problem I have with the bills I got and the lack of moneys I have in the bank to pay them… But! God keeps providing in really cool ways.
Your turn… speak up!
M
Friendship vs. Acquaintances
So where does one draw the line between “Friendship” and “Acquaintances”???
In your opinion what makes a Friend? And what would make someone gain or even loose that title in your life?
My cousin has a rule where if he initiates the friendship through a phone call or asking to hang out 3 times and if that person blows him off or declines without rebooking, my cousin will then drop him off his so called “friends” list.
Or are “friends” simply who is on your facebook friends list. In that case do you really have 500+ friends?
Thoughts? (comment below… do it.. it won’t hurt.)
M
New Music Monday…
Ok, so I’ve been listening to alot of great tunes lately, but I have to post 2 new songs from my guilty pleasure. I watch occasionally the show “Sons of Anarchy” (a show about biker gangs) and they have always, without fail, impressed me with their sound tracks.
Here is 2 songs off the season 4 premier… Hope your mind is blown as much as mind. Joshua James is now one of my new favorite artists.
Enjoy.
M
If there was “less of me to love” would you love me more?
I posted this title to my facebook page the other day with the hopes to get some interesting hits.
Now, I am sitting at the Calgary airport waiting on my connection to Kelowna, sipping on a well brewed coffee and constantly glancing up from my computer to watch people walk by.
I’m a people watcher.
I come from a long line of people watchers in my family. My father is a people watcher and his father… Needless to say we are pretty skilled in art of watching people.
I love airports for the simple fact that you get to see all sorts of people. On my flight from Saskatoon to Calgary I met a stewardess who was flying in to start her shift and we started chatting about people and how you can pretty much tell where they live by the way the walk, dress and even smell…
I love airports because you can see how people correlate their image to their self-esteem. You see everyone from the guy in sweatpants to the lady in the ballin’ dress. From the man in the tucked in tie-dyed shirt (who just walked by) to the lady in the well pressed power suit. You can see the man who obviously works way too hard in the gym because his biceps are the size of my head to the lady who has struggled with obeseity her entire life. People who try too hard, and people who hardly try.
The fact is every single person that I have observed in this short period of time as I write this I have a pre-disposition to judge them. Not to a universal standard of normality, but to my own personal standard that has been saturated and distorted by culture, media, jelousy and my own self-esteem issues.
Why do we do it. Why do we look at each other, why do we look at ourselves with these sets of eyes?
I think the title of this post elludes to it. We are all looking for love, or the perception of love. Love from others, love from ourselves. The question is always “Do you love me? Could you love me? Why don’t you love me?”
Image is a funny thing. Image in a large part, at a distance, clings despretely to our identity. Yet, when we get tied up in this downward spiral we can quickly forget humanity that is behind the image. We forget that there is a person underneathe the tie-dyed shirt or the 25 inch bicep. Theres a marriage that is broken in the life of the power-suited lady as she tries despreately to balance work and family. Theres a girl simply wishing to be noticed or talked to, but has had her confidence shattered because of her weight.
Danny Silk in his book “Culture of Honor” nailed it when he says “We live in a culture that fosters and encourages dishonor.”
We need to change that.
But How?
Thoughts?
M
Songs of Awakening…
Ephesians 5:14b
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
If you need it… let it…
There are days where I need certain truths to wash over me…
There are days where I need certain truths to reveal harsher realities…
There are days where I need certain truths to kick my ass back into my calling and passions…
There are days where I need certain truths to heal and mend brokenness…
So if you are like me… If you need it… let it…
Let these truths from one of my favorite worship leaders, Jason Upton do what God wants it to do…
M
Global Day of Prayer
I had the privilege to be apart of the Global Day of Prayer meeting in downtown Kelowna this past Sunday. It was also my birthday and I couldn’t plan a better way to spend it. Praying, Gathering and Worship with the intent to create unity, change and shift cultures and worship our God. There were moments where God’s glory showed up in waves that were beautiful and amazing! Still gives me chills.
Enjoy this brief recap on the event.
M
Sabbath
Sabbath is the time set aside to do nothing so that we can receive everything, to set aside our anxious attempts to make ourselves useful, to set aside our tense restlessness, to set aside our media-saturated boredom. Sabbath is the time to receive silence and let it deepen into gratitude, to receive quiet into which forgotten faces and voices unobtrusively make themselves present, to receive the days of the just completed week and absorb the wonder and miracle still reverberating from each one, to receive our Lord’s amazing grace.
Sabbath is one of the great gifts that God has given us. Every day of creation is “good” – good for receiving all that God has created, good for participating in the work of God, good for working in God’s garden, good for naming and caring for what God has given, good for being a “helpmate” with and for another. But Sabbath is distinguished from the first six days of each week by being holy, a day set aside to be present to God, to assimilate and celebrate all the gifts of creation and salvation.
excerpt taken from “Tell It Slant” by Eugene Peterson
M
This gives me chills.
Thanks to a blogger friend LOS for showing this…I am re-posting this…
If we can live with a ounce of the passion this man speaks with I believe worlds would change. If we created such unity that this man speaks of I believe that the bride of Christ will create and lead cultures. If we love with this type of intensity I believe hearts will be gathered up. Lord, I want to live like this man.
Amen.
M
