There might be no more common link among music and worship folks in churches than a shared frustration and struggle with audio and all things technical. It seems like a pretty common refrain for a lot of us. Whether it’s a shortage of manpower, a shortage of proper gear or a shortage of technical ability and talent, many churches walk with a limp when it comes to sound issues.
Our lead tech is an professional front of house tech with a local production company vocationally, and we’re very fortunate to have him volunteer his time and expertise to the church. That being said, we still face plenty of challenges trying to mix a band in a building that was never designed for it while using whatever gear that a modest church budget can afford (I hope to have Evan, our tech, share some tips and suggestions with Worship Period very soon). Sometimes the sound desk can attract frustrated musicians with a chip on their shoulder, or technically-minded folks with little to no ear for music side of things. Well, at least that’s what the musicians always say…
Sound issues tend to be a bit touchy, and are often misunderstood and even trivialized by those not directly involved. It might seem like a contextually trivial thing. Sure, it may be a tough pill to swallow, the idea of spending a significant chunk of dough on something like sound gear, for a small church budget. But when you consider that part of the role of the worship leader is to manage distraction and minimize it, sound becomes an important piece of that puzzle. I don’t need to natter on in detail about all that, I just thought I’d share some context behind this post to get us started.
Wanted to say a big thanks to The Convention of Atlantic Baptist Churches for featuring Worship Period on their website (you can read the article here). The support is much appreciated and here’s to hoping worship and creative types across the Atlantic Provinces will continue to join the conversation and find some value here!
What’s our response to the devastation in Haiti? How do we approach God in the shadow of the all the destruction, despair and hopelessness? How do we worship; How do we lead worship?
I say we follow the Haitians’ lead.
Listen to Wyclef as he recounts his experience in his home country in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Unexplainable? No. Just ’spirit and truth’ worship.
(For more on worship in the midst of grief, check out this earlier post.)
There are paradoxes in our faith. Some of them are confusing, some of them I find rather glorious, but they’re there. The first shall be last, lose your life to gain it, there’s no shortage. Sort of like Matt Chandler says, I understand enough about God to know that I’ll never completely understand Him, this side of Heaven (my paraphrase).
This week and weekend as I was preparing for worship I spent some time thinking about one of those kinds of things – the idea of “all”. It appears all the time in reference to a relationship with Christ, and there are countless examples in scripture. But, like a coin or a sweet mix tape, there’s 2 sides.
On one hand it’s repeatedly modeled for us that a relationship with Jesus means “leaving it all behind”. The so-called ‘rich young ruler’ in Mark 10 is told to sell it all and give it away to the poor to follow Christ. A couple chapters later we read the story of the woman who gave all the money she had and Christ admonished her for it. Over in Luke we read about the disciples first encounters with Jesus. Levi/Matthew “got up, left everything and followed (Jesus)”, it tells us in chapter 5. The same chapter tells us how Jesus used a fishing analogy to call some fishermen who “left everything and followed him”. Later in Luke, chapter 14, we read the words, “any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple”.
All. Everything. The whole shebang. Got it.
I think sometimes we have difficulty doing that particularly in our worship. It’s tough to “leave it all behind”, especially if you’re referring to things like our focus, our attitude, our inhibitions, our guilt, our judgement, our insecurities…some of that stuff is tough to leave at the door, isn’t it? Still I think when we gather for corporate worship, our mandate as worshipers is to do just that – leave it behind. My boss and pal Pastor Gord always says, “He can be the focus, or we can be the focus, but we can’t both be the focus”.
As worship leaders part of our role is often in shepherding the collective and individual focus of the group. We’re charged with reminding our congregations of why we’re there and who the focus needs to be. We need to use everything at our disposal to paint a picture of God that leaves no room for attention to anything or anyone else.
The end. Oh, wait. What about the other side of that proverbial mix tape?
A little while ago I was pulling up to a busy intersection in my fair town, and one of the few that ever has any homeless-type dudes. You know the ones, they make the rounds up and down the waiting cars with their sharpie and cardboard signage hoping for some guilt-ridden eye contact. There’s all kinds of debate about whether or not giving these cats money is actually helping them or not, but I kind of tend to think that’s just an excuse on our part. Sure, maybe the risk is there that my young friend will use my pocket change for ill rather than good, but I have yet to read anything about evaluative generosity in my Bible, so I’m just going to have to trust God and give, I think.
Anyway, this dude came sauntering up to my Jeep and I’m not much of a cash-carrying guy in today’s land of plastic money, so I was out of luck. Then I noticed it on my dash – a half used Tim Horton’s gift card with at least a few bucks left on it. “Huh”, I thought, “at least he could get a hot coffee and maybe a sandwich”. So I gave him the card and got a curious smile in return and I was on my way with something to think about…at least until the next light.
Fast forward, in my daily distractionary web surfing, I stumble on this site. It’s called Gift Card Giver. I’m not going to write a big long explanation or intro to this, it’s just cool and people should do it. Great idea. (If you don’t get the connection to worship, read Amos 5 or Isaiah 1.)
I love it when I find out my ideas aren’t original, and that someone has done a bigger and better job already.
I love those soccer announcer dudes. Best part of soccer if you ask me (those of you who know me will know that likely that’s the only good part about soccer, in my view, but I digress. Keep doin’ yer thing, Beckham.)
Goals are one of those things that can be a bit “buzz word”-ish, and some of us artist types can get a bit skiddish and shy away from that stuff. I really do think that setting goals makes a difference in our ministries.
What are your goals for your worship ministry in 2010?
If you don’t typically engage in this process, I encourage you to give it a try. They can be from the practical to the ethereal, and everything in between – a balance of ‘em all is gets my vote. Do you have punctuality issues with yourself or your team? Set a goal to clear it up this year. Give yourself steps: I will be 15 minutes early for every service and rehearsal this year. Does your flock need a fresh infusion of new songs? Set a goal of discovering and teaching some new worship tools to your congregation this year and pursue it with passion. Maybe your crew needs some grounding and teaching in the theology of worship. How can you meet that need this year? Make a plan and work it.
My encouragement to us all with the calendar about to flip once again is to take some time with God to consider what He might have for each of us and our ministries this year and to set some goals to get us there. What an opportunity to give Him the thanks and praise you’ll have this time next year when you can look back and see the ways God has carried you and yours to meet those things He set in your heart a year ago! Sure things will change, new needs will arise, and some of the goals you set now will need to morph and adjust as time passes. But none of those things negate the benefit of time spent with God considering what paths he’d have you follow over the coming year.
Something to consider: Throw yourself in the deep end from time to time. I like to try and consider with God some dreams for our ministry that seem so outrageously large that only He could accomplish them. That way, if and when they come to pass, only He gets the credit. It’s a good thing to purposely set ourselves up for a reminder of who’s driving the bus, now and again.
So, what are some of your goals this year? Let’s share ‘em with each other and run the race together!
Have you ever had a moment in your life when someone said something, or you read something, or heard something that made you feel really stupid about an opinion you held in the past that seemed so right at the time? Chances are, if you’re human, and honest with yourself (but if you’re human there’s always a chance you’re not honest with yourself) you have.
This happened to me just a few weeks ago. I’ve been reading a book by Francis Chan called “Crazy Love”, a great book that’s kind of like a wake-up call for Christians to start living the radical life of “crazy love” that God both demonstrates and calls us to. In the accompanying DVD, Chan tells a story about a girl in a worship team he knows who seems so joyful and refreshed every time she’s worshipping God. So much so that she stands out from the other members of her team. When he asks her why everything seems new and exciting to her in her worship time, she replies:
“I just ask God to do something new in my life and my worship every day, and He does.”
Such a simple request – and so obvious! Of all God’s many wonderful and mysterious attributes, the Bible tells us that He is first of all a creator – and not just any creator, but the Creator of all!
Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
To me, as an artist and a pastor of worship arts at my church, this means that God is the ultimate Artist. He created breathtaking beauty and splendor from absolute nothingness. What other artist living or dead can make that claim? Since God is the ultimate artist – and all artists love to create – it shouldn’t surprise us that He wants to create something new in our own lives every time we give Him the opportunity.
My problem is that I don’t often give Him the opportunity, which brings me back to why I was feeling stupid recently.
“[Thanksgiving and Prayer] We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.” - 2 Thessalonians:3 NIV
There might be no more common link among music and worship folks in churches than a shared frustration and struggle with audio and all things technical. It seems like a pretty common refrain for a lot of us. Whether it’s a shortage of manpower, a shortage of proper gear or a shortage of technical ability and talent, many churches walk with a limp when it comes to sound issues.
A little while ago I was pulling up to a busy intersection in my fair town, and one of the few that ever has any homeless-type dudes. You know the ones, they make the rounds up and down the waiting cars with their sharpie and cardboard signage hoping for some guilt-ridden eye contact. There’s all kinds of debate about whether or not giving these cats money is actually helping them or not, but I kind of tend to think that’s just an excuse on our part. Sure, maybe the risk is there that my young friend will use my pocket change for ill rather than good, but I have yet to read anything about evaluative generosity in my Bible, so I’m just going to have to trust God and give, I think.
I love those soccer announcer dudes. Best part of soccer if you ask me (those of you who know me will know that likely that’s the only good part about soccer, in my view, but I digress. Keep doin’ yer thing, Beckham.) 
Have you ever had a moment in your life when someone said something, or you read something, or heard something that made you feel really stupid about an opinion you held in the past that seemed so right at the time? Chances are, if you’re human, and honest with yourself (but if you’re human there’s always a chance you’re not honest with yourself) you have. 
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