Cherished Possession

Have you pondered that familiar question... if your house was on fire and you could grab one thing--your most prized possession, what would it be?

If you haven't thought through that question, pause for a minute and identify that ONE thing.

Hey. Seriously. Stop. Think about it.

Okay. Now let's go on...

I was thinking about it this morning. I have a few things that are important to me. Wedding pictures. Baby grand piano (probably couldn't grab that and run!). Memorabilia from my mission trip to Tanzania. Even my MacBook Pro.

But easily the one thing I'd grab is our dog, Cooper. Often I'll wake up during the night to find him cuddled into the crease in my legs. Any time I look at him and whisper "bye-bye" he's ready to go for a ride. He sits on my left leg and looks out the window. Today, he even laid his head on my shoulder while I was driving. He is, without a doubt, my prized possession. He's my buddy.

What if you were someone's prized possession? What if, let's say, God was walking by your house and it was on fire and He could only go in and rescue one thing... and He chose you? (It's an analogy, so be patient with the holes in that question!)

How would you feel about God's opinion of you? Would it change?

Do you have a hard time believing that the God who not only named the stars but spoke them into being would consider you His prized possession?

Maybe it would do us all good to meditate on 1 Peter 2:9 like this: "You are a chosen people... You are royal... holy... God's very own possession."

One more thing. My dog has no fear or concern for his safety when he is with me. Perhaps the more aware I am of God's presence in my life... (fill in your own ending)

My Favorite Hymn

I was asked recently to name my favorite hymn.

That's hard for me. I love scores of hymns, and to list my top 5 or top 10 is much easier than my very favorite.

But I'd have to say, based on all of the songs I've been singing and leading others to sing for the last 30 years or so, my favorite would be a relatively new hymn, written in 2005. It's call "The Power of the Cross" and was written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. Here is the last stanza:

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering
I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love. 


This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost! 
We stand forgiven at the cross.

What an incredible set of words, yes? "Death is crushed to death" alone can change someone's perspective! 

To find out more about this powerful song, check out Getty Music. And if you are looking for an arrangement to use in your church, I'd suggest this version from Praise Charts which you can hear on itunes. 

Here's a hint--which may or may not work in your church--when we sing the words "I am free" I blow up the text a little and put just that phrase on the screen with an exclamation mark instead of a period. I have the guys sing it up an octave and it really helps explode that life-changing truth.

Hope that serves you. Oh... and while you're here, can you identify your single favorite hymn? Leave it in the comments below!

Just One Power of Scripture

The Bible is an astounding collection of documents. Though I'd love to share a dozen reasons why, for this post I'll just share one.

It speaks to individuals... well... individually.

Here's what I experienced today.

I sat in a room with 5 other Christ-followers, 4 of whom were pastoral-types. Worship leaders. Ministers of Music. You get the idea.

I read one verse of one song to them from the Bible. Before sharing my thoughts, I asked each of them to simply convey what their souls heard God say from that verse. It wasn't obscure or difficult. It wasn't mysterious. It was, however, God's word.

And from each of these men and women--mature and maturing Christians--came quite different and valid perspectives.

It was beautiful!

And then I talked, too. What I said was noticeably different.

But they said what I shared was beautiful, too.

Amazing.

Psalm 34:5 - "Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame."

When I read that, I think of our focus (Heb 12:2) and of keeping our eyes off circumstances and on Jesus (Matthew 14:22-33) and of leading worship.

So as a worship leader if I can keep my eyes off of circumstances, logistics, and even outside-of-church troubles, then I can look to Jesus.

Even better, if I keep my eyes glued to Jesus, it will pull my attention away from the logistics of worship leading, etc.

And my face will be radiant.

Radiant with the glory of God.

Wow.

Oh, and when I get that right, my face is not covered with shame.

The beauty and truth of God's word to us is just amazing!

Inspiring the Bride of Christ

So last time I confessed that I wonder... "Is the world paying any attention to the Bride (church) and Bridegroom (Jesus) at all?"

The stuff I read from church growth gurus and research geeks (all of whom are great people, I'm sure) would say the folks living day-to-day chaotic lives have very little reason to think of the church. They may think of God or other spiritual things. But the church? Not so much.

And if they do, there's not a lot of beauty beheld.

I didn't say there isn't beauty to behold, just that they don't see it.

And so I wonder why that is.

In yesterday's post, I talked about how Darren Whitehead saw it.

When you and I see the church care for those in the church, we see it.

In fact, quite often, you and I are probably benefactors of the benevolence of the Bride of Christ.

So here I go wondering again...

--Is the church beautiful but the wedding audience--the world--can't see it?
--Is the church beautiful but the world just doesn't look?
--Is the church marred by Her fallenness too deeply to appear beautiful to the world?
--Has the church lost Her way, so unlike in the 1st centuries AD we have lost our beauty?
--If so, what can we do to reclaim our beautiful appearance? Will it take minor changes or major ones?

When I listen to Andy Stanley and John Ortberg talk about the way the church of the 1st century absolutely changed the ways of the world through compassion and valuing life, I'm inspired.

And then I wonder... who am I inspiring? (I'm not looking for a pat on the back here; promise)

And then, because I'm in my late 40s, I wonder who will inspire my kids.

I just really wonder a lot.

Do they Gasp?

Last night, while driving home from my home church in Erlanger KY, I listened to a podcast from Willow Creek Community Church. It was the last sermon from teaching pastor Darren Whitehead before he heads to Nashville to plant a new church.

Really good stuff.

Darren talked about one of my favorite Biblical images of the church--the Bride of Christ. He described what it's like to be the pastor in a wedding--groom at his side, bride in the back of the church, lots of folks looking on. He mentioned that mystical moment when the bride steps into the room and the groom's face lights up, the crowd stands to their feet, and just about everyone gasps at the beauty of the bride. 

Great image.

And he shared story after story about how Willow Creek was a breath-taking Bride of Christ in Darren's years there. 

Beautiful.

So I kept thinking about that. A handful of questions emerged as I drove:

A) As part of the Bride of Christ--the church--do I contribute to her beauty or diminish it? 
B) As I walk into the Presence of the Bridegroom--Jesus--am I captivated by His presence? Is He with mine?
C) As a leader in the church, am I doing everything I can to help the Bride be beautiful?
D) Do our worship gatherings reflect the beauty, joy and love that is so evident in weddings?
E) Is the world paying any attention to the Bride (church) and Bridegroom (Jesus) at all? 

And then my mind raced with a bunch of questions about "E". 

A bunch.

I may share those next time.

As always, would love to see your comments, questions?

The Bible as My Authority

I'm looking for a job. It feels pretty awkward, having invested in lots of education, and having lots of great experience, and having lots of encouraging friends and former church folks. It's just awkward. I don't think I'm ashamed, but I'm certainly not proud. (for once!) I don't think I'm depressed, but I'm not all that happy either. I know I'm not messed up, but still--I feel pretty messy.

In the context of that whirlwind of circumstances and emotions, I had a conversation with a pastor recently about one of my job possibilities. In that chat we talked about the Bible. He was a little concerned with my view of scripture, as many Baptists have been concerned with each others view of scripture for the last 30 years or so.

And so I spent some more time thinking on it. Honestly, I think about God's word to us every day. It is a major part of my life. 

Here's a portion of what I wrote to my pastor friend:

I love the Bible. It is the (my) authority for living an abundant life. If I think something in the Bible is wrong, I'm wrong. It is always true. I am not. 

Which makes me think of one of my favorite congregational songs, "Speak, O Lord." The first part of that text says:

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.


For more about the song, click here: http://gettymusic.com/hymns-speakolord.aspx

Worship Shopping - A New Twist

What if you were the secret shopper for...

...a worship gathering?

What if you had been invited to evaluate a church experience by a friend, like I was a couple of days ago?

What would you measure?

As a first time guest, what would be valuable to you?

Would you be able to put into words what you're looking for, or would you struggle to articulate it?

Having just had that experience, I was strongly reminded of the things that matter to me in a worship gathering. At the core I wanted to encounter God, to hear Truth spoken into me, to sing from my heart.

But what about you? Really? If a friend asked you to stop by his or her church and share a dozen observations about the worship gathering, what would you look for?

If you're a church leader, especially a worship leader, do those you lead know what you'd look for? Seems it might be helpful to everyone if you did.

And if you do... and I'm guessing those of you reading this do, leave a comment. I'm REALLY curious!

You WILL Have Trouble

Written with Expo markers on the bathroom mirrors in our home are these words:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Those were spoken by Jesus and recorded by His best friend, John. (16:33)

I put them on the mirrors because I finished my long-term interim ministry position before God provided the next ministry position, and that's been hard for our family.

But what keeps striking me as I read it is how much of life qualifies.

And the honesty of Jesus: "You will have trouble."

Whether it is Emily and her tennis lesson or Catherine and her time management challenges or Jackie and her--well, I value my marriage a little to much to be specific. :)

Or you.

Take heart! Jesus has overcome the world. 

Makes me think of these words, commonly heard on the airwaves of K-Love these days:

Seated above enthroned in the Father's love

Destined to die poured out for all mankind

God's only Son perfect and spotless One

He never sinned but suffered as if He did

All authority

Every victory is Yours

All authority

Every victory is Yours

Savior worthy of honor and glory

Worthy of all our praise

For You overcame

Jesus awesome in power forever

Awesome and great is Your Name

For You overcame

[and therefore...]

We will overcome

By the blood of the Lamb
And the word of our testimony
Everyone overcome

• Jon Egan
• © 2007 Vertical Worship Songs (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)

The Bar

I did something last night and this morning I've never done before. I watched the video of new releases from Apple. The new iphone 5 peaked my interest the most. But I noticed many things that made me think of church-world and the worship gatherings we craft.

The standard of Apple is taking over the standard of the PC. I don't mean that because I am (increasingly) a fan of Apple products. I say that because of market share. The values of this company are resonating with the values of our culture.

Are ours? Apple seems to be touting their excellence, craftsmanship, beauty, etc. I'm reminded of the instructions of God to those building a temple...

And the bar is being raised across the board. In this TWO HOUR video the quality of production was spectacular (though not perfect). The quality of the presenters was genuine, prepared, and there was no evidence of personality "veneer" allowed on their platform. They ended with a live band playing music, and I can imagine the audience was engaged... sang along... was moved.

My friends, what I watched was not a worship service celebrating our salvation giving Master. I was the celebration of human achievement.

Do we give the same level of thought, energy, preparation, rehearsal, and passion to the eternal Savior of the world as these folks did to some new pieces of amazing technology that will be obsolete in 2-3 years? (There was no such thing as an iphone in 2006.)

I'm reminded of one of the target audience of our local churches... those still far from God. This Apple presentation is their "normal." Our "normal" has to be better. Our "product" (the gospel) is, quite literally, infinitely more valuable and essential. But their standards seem to be higher than ours.

Are they?

Should they be?

What do we do about it?

I'd love to hear from you!

Welcome

My heart is to serve the church.

I believe, with Bill Hybels, that the church is the hope of the world. Even more than that, I know the church is the cherished bride of Christ. (Eph 5:32)

In the posts that follow, I hope to offer some thoughts that can serve those who lead the bride into the presence of her Savior.

Which can make us better equipped to take hope to the world.

Sure would love to answer questions, chat about content, etc. So be encouraged to comment.