Merge Worship

I shared with our team last night the first miracle I ever saw. It is the thing that I continue to go back to whenever my heart is filled with doubt or fear. It dawned on me that I've never shared it here, so here goes.

I'm meeting with our worship team tonight for some pizza and fellowship. Part of our conversation is going to be about our focus.

It's easy to focus on musical/technical execution.

It's easier still to just focus on doing your job well.

It's easy to make worship about the part you play.

But worship isn't about us.

Worship is about Him. His pleasure. His praise. Celebrating His promise.

As a worshiping community, my highest aspiration for us is that we would be worshipers. I'm hoping everything we do in the "artistic" life of our church reflects that hope.

How do you keep your focus where it should be?

I got a call on Sunday from a friend asking for prayer for a missionary. "Ezekiel" is a pastor in Africa. On Friday his wife called and said his 8 year old son wasn't there when she went to pick him up from school. Ezekiel hadn't seen him either. A couple of hours later they received a ransom note.

Someone had their son and wanted 1 million dollars (about 14K US$) for his safe return. Needless to say, Ezekiel doesn't have a million dollars laying around. They contacted him later and lowered the ransom to the equivalent of $4,700.

Ezekiel came up with $1,700 and called for prayer. As a network of believers began to pray, Ezekiel felt led to contact the kidnappers. He told a friend that he couldn't pay them off because it would "open the door for other pastors to possibly have their children taken". He contacted his sons captors and told them: "I'm not giving you any money and I want my son back. You're not dealing with me. You're dealing with God."

He sent his wife and younger child to another village to protect them and prayed. On Monday the Holy Spirit directed him to a certain part of town to look. Ezekiel obeyed.

Ezekiel found his son and took him home.

God is real and God is good.

We had a good set of services this weekend. But instead of giving you all my thoughts from that, I'd just like to say happy MLK day! I hope you enjoy this day of celebrating the life of a man determined to make a difference.

What things in your world are you determined to make a difference in? Be inspired today!

I had this thought last night that I might have spent a lot of my time gathering knowledge without gaining wisdom. Once Tony Evans said that "wisdom is putting feet to your what you know".

How many times have I read a great book and not implemented what I learned?

How many times have I had an amazing conversation with another leader only to walk away and stay basically the same?

How many times have I read a passage of Scripture or devo and not put feet to it?

How many times has the Lord revealed Himself to me and I've left unchanged?

I have a large appetite (no fat jokes...this time) to read, connect and grow. In this new year I need my life to be about gaining wisdom not gathering knowledge. I'm endeavoring to live the words of James 1:22

"Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself. Do what it says"

And all God's people said...amen.

Just saw this from Leonard Sweet.

"Even Christians are so much better at wearing crosses than bearing crosses."

How true. How painfully true.

How can we encourage each other to live lives that are cross bearing instead of cross wearing?

I just realized that I've not done a post since my last weekend recap. Sorry about that. It's been a crazy week learning the ropes at a new church, new area and all that fun stuff. Anyway...I'll get back on the ball.

With that said...here's my thoughts on the weekend.

Worship Set:

• Meet With Me
• Holy is the Lord
• How Great is Our God/How Great Thou Art
• Response: Take My Life
  

Random Thoughts:

• Brian Worley (our Jr. High Pastor) ROCKED his sharing time about being "Uniquely Crafted" while delicately handling his wife's cool pottery. I'll admit I prayed for him every time he picked up those pieces.
• The line of the day that made me smile: "I knew you were going to be a good worship leader when I saw your kicks."
  
• Saturday night service was GREAT! Big adjustment for me leading on Saturday, but there was a real sense of worship that night.
• Lots of fun being interviewed by Sass. Almost got out of hand with the joking in the 11, but fun none the less.
  
• Mercy caught some stomach thing. I'm trying to figure out a way to blame this on our Senior Teaching Pastor who was out with a stomach thing as well.
• The worship team, from the booth to the stage, are all working really hard. It is noted and appreciated!
• My man Les said that he was "completely drained" after the 9:15. I LOVE passionate worship leading that leaves us on empty when we're done.
• They threw up a graphic in the 9:15 that I'll probably try and tweak some this week. (but we're getting there)
  

Going to be a great service next week continuing to talk about being "Uniquely Crafted" and how our passions are given to us by God. Bring a friend that is passionate about things other than Jesus right now and let's see their heart change to pursuing something deeper!

Here's a little recap of what went down this weekend in my world.

Worship Set:

• Beautiful One
• Friend of God
• What a Friend We Have in Jesus
• Communion
• Forevermore

Random thoughts:

• It was my first Sunday in a new place so that was a little nerve wracking, but God was faithful. Kept the worship set simple and singable.
  
• No drummer for 2 of 3 services. I would've normally been a little bugged by this, but everything felt like the glass was half full for me. The band reacted well and I think we were still able to carry enough energy.
  
• Great response from the congregation after the services. Seems like everyone is ready to jump into what God wants to do next in worship here at Grace.
• I'm definitely a bit of a switch from the norm, but the worship team (band/vocals/AV) all reacted well even when I went off the script.
• I really enjoyed getting to lead the people of Grace in worshiping our great God together. (we even had a few clappers in the 11 service)

I think God has brought me to a "weighty" and "challenging" season, but I'm looking forward to tackling this season with my new church family and seeing us become who it is He is calling us to be!

So I'm up late tonight. Praying about this new leg of my journey. Praying for the people God has called me to serve and lead. Listening to some worship music and reading some Psalms.

Just trying to wrap my mind around all He is doing in this new season. I think the weight of this new assignment is hitting me tonight. (ok. it's actually morning)

One thing I know. I'm not doing this alone. Someone gave my Mom Proverbs 4:12 which talks about wisdom guiding us in unhindered steps.

This is not the time for me to try and do things on my own. I am determined to be obedient to Him and accomplish His vision in the new year.

The only way I can do that is by getting Adam out of the way and trusting "Him who has begun a good work" to finish it.

So, as you think about the be year, what big things has He placed in your heart that you can't do without Him? Let's dream together.