Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween

Many Christians have been avoiding Halloween for a long time. Seems to me it might be better to use the costumes and conversations already happening to talk about our faith, rather than retreat into it.

For example...

Hearing Voices?
   --Adam and Eve heard the voice of God speak in the Garden.
   --Samuel, while growing up in the care of Eli, heard God call him by name.
   --Job, after calling God to task in prayer, heard God respond.
   --Shepherds, outside the little village of Bethlehem, heard angels praising God in the sky.
   --Jesus Himself said his "sheep" would hear and recognize His voice.

Seeing Apparitions? Yep, this one can freak you out!
   --Isaiah saw God, dressed in a massive robe.
   --Ezekiel saw a wheel spinning in the sky.
   --Saul consulted the witch of Endor in hopes of meeting with Samuel, who was dead.

   --The disciples thought, when they saw Jesus walking on water, that He was a ghost.


Being Possessed? This is my favorite!
   --Remember the demon-possessed man? Jesus cast out demons and they went into pigs to took a flying leap.
   --Or another demon-possessed man? The one that lived in a cemetery and they couldn't keep him tied up, so he ran around naked and cut himself?
   --But on the other side of things, quite astoundingly, you and I--if we are believers--are possessed by a Spirit too. The old King James version translates 1 Corinthians 6:19 this way: "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"

So on this Halloween, let's choose to live like we're possessed by a Holy Ghost. 

Happy Halloween, Spirit-filled Christ followers!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Making Worship Great (resources)

The last seven posts have been about "why" our worship gatherings have been great. Thanks so much for your comments, both on the blog and on Facebook. They've been great.

But now let's move to the practical end of the spectrum. Time to move from "why" to "how." Here are five categories of "stuff" to serve your quest to make worship great at your church. A word about my choices--these are not what I'd consider "cutting edge" resources. These are for the normal, innovative, perhaps blended-toward-contemporary minded church. I'd imagine many of you reading my blog are already very familiar with these.

Let me encourage you to click on the hyperlinks to get more info.

Music for Congregational Songs
PraiseCharts - you can find just about everything you can imagine needing for the most popular "praise and worship" music. One of my favorite things about this music is that if you find a really great recording of a worship song, there's a strong chance PraiseCharts will have it--Piano w/ 3 or 4 part harmony only, click track, full orchestration, etc.

SongSelect - this service from CCLI is much less developed than the resources from PraiseCharts, but if you have instrumentalists who play from a lead sheet or chord sheet, this is incredibly cost-effective. The number of songs available from SongSelect is mind-boggling.

Music for Choir
This is so difficult, because your church choir's music style. Some of my favorite publishers are: Prism, PraiseGathering, and on the traditional end, Beckenhorst Press.

A few specific contemporary choir songs that have risen above the rest in recent years are:
"Fill This Temple with Your Glory"
"I Then Shall Live" from Tell the Story collection
"This Is Our God" (part of a Christmas musical)
"Come As You Are" (with DVD/click track)
"A Mighty Fortress"

Video
"Grace" by the Skit Guys
"Alive" (The Story) featuring Natalie Grant

Podcasts
All About Worship
Andy Stanley Leadership

Books
Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin
An Hour on Sunday by Nancy Beach
The Heart of the Artist by Rory Noland
Vertical Church by James MacDonald
Worship Is a Verb by Robert Webber

Blogs
Worship Coach (my only shameless, self-promoting plug!)
Worship Matters

Ok, readers, if you could add one essential resource, what would it be?

Monday, October 29, 2012

Should Worship Be Great? pt. 7

This is it. Last post in this series.

Next time, a few practical resources to serve you as you seek to make worship great.

But for now, I simply want to challenge you.

Do it.

Listen for God. Hear His voice through scripture, prayer, circumstances, and the church. Seek hard after His voice. Be still enough to hear. Discipline yourself to recognize the sweet sound of our Shepherd through familiarity with scripture.

Be obedient to God. What He says, do. Decide before you hear Him that no matter what He says, you will do. And then... do it.

Ask God, and if necessary beg God, for a clear vision of how worship can be great in your church.

Start with prayer. If at all possible, get people praying with and for you--that God would manifest His Presence in your place of worship. I can help you develop this idea through "Worship Coach."

Continue praying as you commit to building up the church. If they're feeling beat up by those seeking to lead them to the Throne of grace, it will be very difficult to take them along. Choose to encourage. If it comes naturally, lean into it. If it doesn't, build it into your ministry strategy.

As you pray and as you encourage one another, raise the standard. Pursue excellence personally. Then inspire those around you to excellence. Don't impose your opinions, but represent God's "opinions" whispered and shouted through the Spirit on excellence.

And please, don't go out of order. Don't pursue excellence hoping it will encourage the body of Christ which will bring glory to God.

Seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness.

Encourage one another.

Make the most of every opportunity.

Make your worship gatherings GREAT!


I am eager to help every church I can, in every way I can, have great worship. For more about how I may be able to serve your chuch as a "Worship Coach," shoot me an email at RodEEllis@aol.com or text/call my cell at 502.229.0114.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Should Worship Be Great? pt. 6

Common Excuses for having less than great worship... and my responses to them.

That's the goal.

But first, please, if we've not met personally, I want you to know that I am a person of grace. I extend it in huge doses and in myriad ways. I have a deep concern that my comments not come across as insulting. That is the farthest thing from my heart. So if I offend you in any way, please let me know so I can have the chance to repair the offense.

That said, here are the excuses I've heard most when it comes to making worship gatherings great:

1) I'm just a volunteer. This one is easy to debunk in two ways:
     a) I hope that's not the attitude of the volunteer fire fighter if you live in a small community and it's your house that's on fire. Don't you?
     b) If you think of yourself as "just a volunteer" then you may not be in the right spot in your church. Whatever God calls you to is a high and holy calling. I can't imagine Paul, who worked "9 to 5" as a tentmaker saying to the folks around him, "I'm just a volunteer." Can you?

2) There's only so much time. This one is really, really hard in our culture. We thrive on busy-ness. In fact, if you are as addicted to busy-ness as me, the worst part of your day is when you don't have anything left to do.

The longer I walk with Jesus the more I'm convinced that if I did only what God wanted me to do, I would always have as much time as I need. This is not a "time management" tip, this is a spiritual discipline admonition. If you're too busy to do what God has asked you to do, you're too busy doing stuff God has not asked you to do. (I'll bet I'm worse at this than you are!)

3) We don't have the resources/money. Think of it this way instead: lack of money is a tremendous motivator for creativity. We once made it snow in our sanctuary as part of a dramatic presentation tied to the release of the movie The Chronicles of Narnia. We decorated the whole space to look like we were in that magical land. We built a wardrobe big enough for 4 teenagers to stand behind coats. Total budget? About $300. And it was great. If God guides you to do something, I have no doubt, He can provide what you need. It may be through friends, through stuff in your garage or basement, or through a donation. And, of course, it may be from your budget. But there are ways to do what you probably don't think you can do... IF God is in it.

4) It's just church. I've heard this so, so many times when folks would donate something that was not worth using in their home any more. I've also heard people say this in comparison to a theatrical production or to their workplace. It is as if we are giving God the leftovers instead of the first-fruits. Maybe this would be a good time to re-read pt. 3. God's requirement for our offerings... that they be without blemish.

5) It's just a normal Sunday. We worship Jesus on Sundays because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. 

Don't fly by that. Jesus of Nazareth was dead, then was alive. It was a Sunday. That's why, historically, Sundays have been "little Easters" throughout the Christian year.

You know what else? I can't find a single thing about encountering God the Father, Jesus the Son, or the Holy Spirit that is normal. Every Sunday is an opportunity to encounter the eternal God of the universe. Every Sunday.

If you've heard other excuses, share them. I'd be glad to see if I can offer a thoughtful response!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Should Worship Be Great? pt. 5

Key thougts so far...

1) Is worship supposed to be "great"? 

2) Worship should be for, about, and with God.
3) The church desperately needs great worship gatherings.

And now, I am as convinced of this as anything I've already written: our communities need worship to be great. Even if they don't know it yet.


My 17 year old daughter, Catherine, is a competitive dancer. Her team almost always places in the top 2 or 3 and she's quite accustomed to winning. There's a culture of greatness built into her team by her coach. When the Champions Elite All-Star Dance Team takes the stage, it is moving, exciting, dynamic, and... yep, great.


My 15 year old daughter, Emily, is an aspiring photographer. She has started interning with a local photography company that seems to do the vast majority of senior picture photo shoots in our county. The pictures are fresh, clear, beautiful, sometimes downright moving, and... yep, great.


The newest restaurant to open in our town (Frankfort, KY) is Buffalo Wild Wings. The building is striking. The food is worth telling your friends about. The atmosphere is fun. The service is--at least often enough--really good. The BW3 experience is... yep, great.


That's normal in my little town. But the same could be said about a pro sports team, UK men's basketball, and a Mumford and Sons concert.


Probably more than any time in history, the bar of "normal" in our world is set very, very high. We expect "great" for our kids, our schools, our retailers, and many of our workplaces are even geared that way.


When folks come to your church for the first time, it speaks volumes when they encounter poor planning, poor preparation, or poor presentation. In fact, to the guest, it may communicate something tragic, though unintended, about God.


Stay with me for a minute. If you were marketing a good product, wouldn't you want to present your best case?


We sure don't have to market God, but we do communicate much about Him by the appearance of our space, the quality of our music, and the polish of our spoken word.


It is tragic to think we may forfeit the opportunity to be heard because we say things in ways that are poorly spoken.


Those in your city and mine n
eed worship to be great so they will hear about our great God.



...and I am eager to help every church I can, in whatever way I can, have great worship. For more about how I may be able to serve your chuch as a "Worship Coach," shoot me an email at RodEEllis@aol.com or text/call my cell at 502.229.0114.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Should Worship Be Great? pt. 4

First, we talked about worship being great because God is great. Worship should be for, about, and with God.

Then we looked at a good bit of instructive scripture about God's requirement that worship be great; without blemish.


Now I'd like to suggest that worship should be great because the church desperately needs great worship gatherings. 


Desperately.


Part of our challenge is that we don't feel--in the deep places of our souls--a desperation for God in worship.


Thanks to the recommendation of a new pastor-friend, I've been reading through Vertical Church by James MacDonald. I'm about 98% with the pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel so far. Maybe even 99%. 


One of his insights that has been most convicting to me comprises the first half of what I'd like to share about why the church needs great worship.


A quick piece of background... consider worship as that time when the glory of God is manifest in the church. MacDonald takes a long time to make his case for that scripturally, beautifully and powerfully, but we don't have time here, so trust me. (Or read the first 150 pages of his book, which I'd highly recommend anyway!)


Unpacking 1 Samuel 4:18 the author notes: "The ark of God represented the presence of God, and Eli dies on the spot when he realized in a moment the implications of its loss. Do we have that sense of what is lost when God's glory departs? Are you even remotely as aware as Eli of what is lost when we live and worship apart from God's manifest presence?"


The church desperately needs great worship because we tragically miss the manifest presence of God.


Oh how that sentence grieves my heart. I can only imagine it grieves the heart of God as well.


There's also what I'd consider a slightly less significant, though still Biblically vital reason the church needs great worship: We're anemic.


Jesus promised (Jn 14:12) that we'd see greater things happen after He left planet earth, but few of us in the North American church would describe our churches as more powerful than that of the first century. We desperately need to be strengthened. 

Desperately.


And according to 1 Corinthians 14:5, that's what a great worship gathering should do: "When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach... But everything that is done must strengthen all of you."


Worship HAS to be great because right now too many of our gatherings are weak and so are we. We need to be strengthened.


That's the hard news.


And the glorious news is that the God we gather to worship every week is faithful, powerful, mighty, and generous, slow to anger and abounding in love.


One final word here. I can help you find ways to make worship great. But I can't do what is described in this post. This is not only above my pay grade and your ability to pay for, this is above our capacity as human beings. There ARE things I've learned that may help, but this is God's choice. It is God's place to manifest His presence. The fantastic news is that He has a desire to do so. And a great track record to go with it!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Should Worship Be Great? pt. 3

We started this journey because I am trying to discern if "Helping Make YOUR Worship GREAT" was a good tagline for my new part-time consulting venture, Worship Coach.

Last time I said worship should be great because God is great. Worship should be for, about, and with God.

This time I'd like to suggest that God actually requires our worship to be great.

I know, I know... that offends our grace-thirsty sentiments.

But really, if we will consider the totality of Biblical teaching more than our traditions or opinions, I'm confident God desires and requires our worship gatherings be great.

Let's consider...
--the Old Testament sacrificial system and its requirements,
--the expectations of God for other elements of worship,
--the sacrifice of Jesus, who ended the need for animal sacrifice, because he was not just great but perfect,
--the totality that's required to follow Jesus,
--the metaphor of the church as a bride, which I'll just consider icing on the cake.

This could easily become a "too long" blog post, so I'm going to be as brief as I can. If you have questions or comments that give me the chance, I'll take more time with any of these handful of considerations.

A) Sacrificial system.
I know this is sort of harsh for my preferred "warm fuzzy," encouraging style of writing, but it is in the Bible, and that's where we're taking our cues. So hear deeply the prophet Malachi (1:14) “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations. (emphases added)

And it's not just Malachi. The standard was set way back in Leviticus and Numbers. It's even referenced in Genesis 4 with the story of 2nd generation humanity. God's requirement for an acceptable offering has always been one without blemish. Not just a turtledove, a lamb, or a bull. But a turtledove, lamb or bull that is without blemish

B) Other worship elements, like music.
When David was putting together the worship leaders for the Temple, a whole segment of scripture is devoted to "The Singers." Specifically, in 1 Chronicles 25:7 we're told that all 288 of them were "trained and skilled in music for the Lord." 

C) Jesus as perfect sacrifice.
With A and B in mind, consider Hebrews 9:14: "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"

And we really need to pause for a moment here. No matter how great our worship is, it is essential to remember that the only reason it is acceptable to God is because the sacrifice of Jesus makes it great. The closest we can come to perfection is still never good enough to "impress" God. Our finest work is filthy rags next to God's righteousness. (Is 64:6) We don't give our best to appease God, but to please God. Not to impress God, but to demonstrate how impressed we are by Him.

D) Sold out devotion.
It's hard to imagine God being pleased with one of his daughters or sons flippantly saying, "well... yeah... I guess that's good enough."

No way. God's wants us sold out. All in. Here are examples from both the old and new covenants:

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." That's from the prophet Jeremiah (29:13).

And I love the way Eugene Peterson translates this part of Paul's letter to the church in Rome: "So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." (Rom 12:1-2)

E) Bride of Christ.
According to Ephesians 5:26-27, "[Jesus] gave up his life for [the church] to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault."

That all starts to make "great" sound like an understatement to me! And those passages convey to me that our worship gatherings should be great, without blemish.

So that's my take on God's requirement for worship to be great.

Not perfect, that's not possible. Not artificially great, that's inauthentic.

Great.

So... what do y'all think?

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Should Worship Be Great? pt. 2

In Steven Furtick's book Sun Stand Still, there is a chapter titled "The Simplest Systematic Theology Ever" in which he claims "the scope and impact of your vision will be determined by who you believe God is."

Agreed?

I am going to be so bold as to piggy back on his statement and contend that the scope and impact of our vision for worship gatherings will be determined by who we believe God is.

So far, if you're a leader in worship, I'd imagine you're with me.

I imagine we'd also cheer a rather familiar quote offered by Furtick in that same chapter, this one from  A. W. Tozer: "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us... Were we able to extract from any man a complete answer to the question, 'What comes into your mind when you think about God?' we might predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man."

So Pastor Steven boils down his view of God--his systematic theology--to this:

God is great.
God is good.

Again, I imagine while we are silently chanting the children's meal-time blessing, we are still in agreement.

And here's where I start with my belief that worship gatherings should be great.

Since God is great, and since we are made in the image of God (though broken, redeemed and being restored) and since we are to worship a great God, then shouldn't our worship be great?

And at this point in the journey I'm not talking about great singers or great preachers or even things like great screen content--though we will get to those.

I'm talking about the content of our worship. 

Worship should be for, about, and with God.

God is great.

Worship should be GREAT! 

Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!
    No one can measure his greatness. (Psalm 145:3)


And I am eager to help every church I can, in every way I can, have great worship. For more about how I may be able to serve your chuch as a "Worship Coach," shoot me an email at RodEEllis@aol.com or text/call my cell at 502.229.0114.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Should Worship Be Great?

This whole idea of "Worship Coach"--the blog, the consulting, the Facebook page--is an effort on my part to use the dozens of things I've learned about leading a worship ministry to serve those who may not have had the chance to make as many mistakes as I have. 

Seriously!

Especially during the 7 years I was honored to serve with Memorial Baptist Church in Frankfort, KY, the team I designed and led had tremendous freedom and struck out often. (We had lots of base hits and some home runs, too.) So I learned a great deal, and would like to share with pastors and worship leaders some of those learnings.

Spiritual.

Relational.

Musical.

Organizational.

Managerial.

Educational.

And more words that may or may not end in "al".

That's why I've been working on a brochure to give out to friends in church-world who might be able to benefit from my mistakes (or what I've learned through them, anyway). And in an effort to articulate the ways I hope to serve, I have found it difficult to find just the right words.

On the front of that brochure, across the top, it currently says:
Worship Coach
Make Your Worship Gatherings Great!

"I will sing with my spirit but I will also sing with my mind."
I Cor 14:15b

And given my propensity to seek input, I've shown the prototype to about a dozen people. I have had two of those people, both of whom I respect immensely, object to the word "great." 

So I decided to ponder, research a little, pray more than that, and write a series of blog posts about why that makes sense to me. I haven't printed the brochure yet, so your questions and comments may help me finish up that design.

Next time: "God is great, God is good" and what that may mean for worship gatherings.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Worship Leaders: Mattaniah or Binnui?


I’m reading the Bible through this year. Haven’t done that in a while, so it is taking some serious commitment on my impatient part to read through things like lists of names in Nehemiah, where the city of Jerusalem is being restored.

Then it happened. Not a big thing, but a great reminder for those of us who lead in worship.

See if you see what I saw?

Chapter 11, vs. 17: “Also Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Zabdi, a descendant of Asaph, who led in thanksgiving and prayer. Also Bakbukiah, who was Mattaniah’s assistant, and Abda son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun.”

And just a few verses later, in chapter 12, “The Levites who returned with them were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his associates was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.” (vs. 8)

Do you see a difference? I did. And maybe it’s just me, but it really jumped out.

I’d rather people think of me as one who “led in thanksgiving and prayer” than one who was “in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.”

What do you think?

Semantics or totally different leadership pictures?

Monday, October 15, 2012

Time = __________


I had some minor shoulder surgery a few days ago. It was outpatient, so I was back to normal health pretty quickly except I couldn’t use my right (dominant) arm. Between that and the fact that I currently get to work only two part-time jobs, both of which I do mostly from home, I’ve been around the house a whole lot more than in the last week or two.

Our dog Cooper loves that. He doesn’t get left locked in the kitchen for 7 or 8 hours a day. In fact, he’s spent less than an hour locked in the kitchen for most of the last two weeks.

And you know what I’ve noticed?

The more time Cooper spends with me, the more obedient he is.

The more we communicate, the better he gets at giving me cues about going outside. It’s not just that. When I call, he comes. I’d say we’re up to 90% of the time now. A month ago? 50% at best.

When I ask him to do his tricks, he gets them right the first time. He’s even doing tricks easily that he used to struggle with. 

The lesson about walking with God may be too obvious to state, but I’ll risk it.

The more time I spend with my Master, the more obedient I am.

And usually--at this stage in my walk with Jesus--it is obedience of attitude more than actions. (To those who know me well... I did say USUALLY!)

Now, I have a LONG way to go in having “the same attitude of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 2:5) But the more time I spend wallowing in God’s word... the more time I spend participating in prayer... the more time I spend trying to think His thoughts... the more time I spend inviting His heart to invade my heart.. the more obedient I am.

Conversely, the less time I take to read from His word to me, or listen for His voice, or consider His ways, or allow myself to be touched by the things that undoubtedly touch Him... in those times I care less. I am less sold out to having a Jesus-attitude.

Bottom line? Time with my Master makes me more obedient.

Sorta like Cooper.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Discouraged?


This is a hard season in my life, and in the life of my family. The reasons don’t really matter much, but it is really, really hard. 

And yesterday I had one of the most discouraged days of my life. I kept to myself a lot (stupid, I know). I allowed my thoughts to wander as I pretended to watch college football. As those thoughts toyed with me, I tried to discern if I was depressed or tired. If I was just upset, or simply and appropriately grieving the loss of some things that meant a lot to me.

But after sleeping for a few hours I think I found the right word: I’m discouraged.

Maybe you are too.

Think about that word for a minute.

Discouraged.

Sometimes we consider that word innocuous. But it really can be devastating, can’t it? Even if you’ve not felt devastated by discouragement, I’ll bet you can think of someone who has.

It occurred to me... discouragement is when courage gets dissed.

I’m walking with a friend through a season in his ministry where I hear far more fear in his voice than courage. And that fear is debilitating. It perpetuates and elevates his struggles.

Fear and discouragement are often found in the same closet.

But then.

Oh, but then... someone opens the door and light spills in. The name of that light?

Encouragement.

You and I have the power to encourage. You can put courage in someone! 

There is amazing power in encouragement. It not only dispels (disses!) discouragement and fear, it emboldens faith. It casts out hopelessness.

Just in case you skipped over it, I want to say it again:

YOU can put courage in someone!

Today, you can do that. Maybe even right now. Pick up the phone. Walk across the room. Pull up your email. Tweet away. 

IN-courage someone today.

We have a pretty great example...

Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” Matthew 14:27

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

By ______

How would you fill in that blank?

By God?

By his bootstraps?

By myself?

By faith?

That last one is just ringing in my soul today.

I found out yesterday that the job I really wanted is no longer a possibility. 

Still... by faith.

I had shoulder surgery 10 days ago and can't do much to get our house ready to sell.

Still... by faith.

I went to see a doctor with my 17-year old daughter about a lingering medical issue. (Nothing life-threatening!)

Still... by faith.

I had a conversation with the pastor of a church in another state today. I think I'd really like to serve there. But I'm not at all sure. Yet.

Still... by faith.

That's why the song is so timely, I think. Not one of those things can be "fixed" by effort. But every one of them can be, no--will be--settled by my Father in heaven.

Here's a link to the whole song (By Faith) and here's one to the passage that inspired it (Hebrews 11) but for now, I simply invite you to consider this final stanza:

By faith this mountain shall be moved 
And the power of the gospel shall prevail
For we know in Christ all things are possible
For all who call upon His name

Monday, October 8, 2012

I'd planned to write about an hour ago, but my dog distracted me. His stood next to my chair, paws on the armrest, and stared me down. All 12 pounds of him.

Now really, could I ignore such a precious face?



Obviously I didn't. I put down my computer, called him up into my lap, and spent a few minutes just allowing him to be in my arms.

Now I'm not comparing myself to God, but I am sort of comparing Cooper to me. So hang with me for a minute...

He had been fed, had taken care of business outside, and had already spent some time with me this morning. His needs were met. I'd even given him a treat earlier.

But it wasn't enough. He wanted to be with me.

Not around.

Not below.

Not beside.

With.

And when he jumped into my lap, he was content to be in my presence.

And I loved it.

It makes me think. Do I pursue the presence of God as intently? Am I too busy to simply be with Him?

And as a worship leader it makes me think, too. Is it undeniably evident that the time we spend in worship is time spent with God in His chair? (actually called a throne of grace in Hebrews 4:16) Or are we too busy creating/communicating an agenda that people leave filled with information but empty of time with their Father?

I hope you'll choose to spend time with your Master today.

And if you're a worship designer or leader, I pray you take folks into the presence of God on Sunday.

"...You fill me with joy in your presence..." Psalm 16:11

Saturday, October 6, 2012

'Tis Grace

The more grateful I am, the less troubled I am.

The more grateful I am for the indescribable gift of salvation, the less troubled I am about the very describable things I want. 

Even the things I need.

Right now I need a job. And I really do need one. We'll run out of enough money to pay our bills in a couple of weeks. (I'm not asking for any money; Promise!)

But the more I dwell on the astounding truth of what Jesus Christ has purchased for me, the less I am troubled about the things that I need to purchase.

That all may change in a few weeks. It really might.

But for now, I'm just deeply amazed by grace.

Again.

And again.

And again.


"Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home."