Baby Finn

Alright, alright! So I know some of you will be upset that I’m just now putting this up but things have been crazy and wonderful lately! My new baby boy Finnley Daniel was born June 23rd at 12:37pm. He had a little resperatory problem but was resolved and sent home with a clear bill of health. He is awesome! I will say that it has been 5 years since the Layne was born and I had totally forgotten the trials of midnight baby care! It is, of course, a small price to pay for a beautiful and healthy baby boy. Check out the pics below and I will be posting more soon.

I hope everyone is well!!!

The importance of song selection pt. 2

Ok. So now we all agree that prayer and communication is the first part of selecting our songs. Once we have prayed through the set and have some type of direction we’re ready to start constructing.

2. Direction  & Journey - 

You’ve been preparing spiritually for this set…….what did God speak to you? Which direction are we heading? Again it’s not just about putting songs together it’s about putting the right songs together. Your worship set should have a common thread and a distinct flow. This is what will set your worship set apart from the typical hum drum set you may hear every other Sunday somewhere else. Be deliberate. 

First, Direction - 

What direction will you being heading in this service? As a worship leader what is God laying on your heart? Do you feel like God wants to communicate His greatness this week? Then choose songs that do. Does there need to be a shift in worship to be outwardly focused? Choose some anthem type songs that will direct focus off of them and on to the community. Sometimes we need to create moments in the set where we force our people through song to communicate with God and seek or receive forgiveness. Choose the right song. Do you see how the importance of song selection is becoming more and more important? If we are not in prayer and aren’t in tune with the pulse of our church then we slip in to singing songs. That’s not what we do as worship leaders. We lead WORSHIP. We create enviroments in which our people can connect, communicate and touch Jesus. You don’t accomplish this over all by just singing songs. What direction is God leading you in? Figure it out and begin to narrow down those types of songs.

Second, Journey - 

Now that you have your direction and you have narrowed those songs you need to create the journey. There are two things to consider. One, how does your church service flow? Does you pastor like the worship to end up and energetic or low and worshipful? Figure that out then continue with the journey. At my church I use the ‘V’. The ‘V’ is a flow of songs. We like to end up and energetic. But, no matter how your service flows the following ideas will work when you prepare your set. The ‘V’ in a 4 song set is 1. High Energy, 2. High/Medium Energy, 3. Medium/Low or Worshipful and then 4. High Energy. So, replace the highs and lows wherever they go according to your flow of service.

Now, create the journey. You know the direction so let’s take your people on a journey. In the ‘V’ song 1 is high praise. High energy…time to wake up….sing out loud….song. Song 2 starts to ground and take shape on the journey. In every set I have what I call ‘the weird’ moment. The peak of the set. Maybe it’s in the third worshipful song or maybe it’s the final song but whatever the case the whole set should drive towards ‘the weird’. For me, it’s usually the third song. Find your peak and drive towards it. So, song 1 is high, song 2 is high but then I transition from the 2nd to the third in a very purposeful way. Maybe I need to sing through the 3rd chorus just acoustically to prepare the crowd or maybe I bring it down and pray to prepare them. Whatever you do, you need to make sure and transition well. Make it flow. Hard stops can be very distracting and disjointed. Try to build in time for your people to respond during the peak of the set. Maybe you need to create silence after the song to help them digest the moment. Let them respond. Then finally, celebrate. This why I like the ‘V’. Once you’ve hit your peak…CELEBRATE God’s goodness! We should rejoice. That’s how I communicate it to our people because again, one of the easiest ways to kill the moment is a bad transition. Maybe a short prayer thanking God for his faithfulness and announcing that celebration is in order would be a good idea.

 However you decide to create your set do it purposefully. Put your heart and soul in to it. The greatest compliment you could receive as a worship leader is that they can see your heart when you lead. That means that you’re not portraying a showman attitude but also the heart behind your set was seen. You communicated the journey well. 

Push for the God moment…..go for the WEIRD! 

The importance of song selection pt. 1

Song selection is the FIRST step in having a successful praise and worship set. Some of you are saying ‘duh….it’s the first thing you do!’. Well I’m not talking about the action behind it I’m talking about the philosophy behind it. Here are some things I would encourage you to consider when preparing for you set.

1. Prayer - This seems 101 I know but if you’re honest with yourself most leaders don’t pray about the set their putting together. They select songs that they know people like, or that are on the radio or songs that they like and no one else will really get in to. We’ve all had the experience of being in the middle of a worship set and something just isn’t clicking. You can’t pin point it but it just lacks something. Often times I’ve found it’s preparation. I haven’t prayed enough about the set or I didn’t have a clear direction from God on where the set needed to go so it basically didn’t go anywhere. I choose songs that I thought people would get in to and they didn’t. I didn’t pay attention to God. It is SO important that we include God in the process.  In fact He should be the first step of the process. Worship is about connecting with God. Don’t you think God knows the best way to connect? Listen to what God may be speaking to your heart as you think all week about your set. I don’t know when your ministry’s practice times are but it’s my opinion that the later in the week the better. This gives you as much time with God as you need to find that direction. Also, if you’re unsure about a song or two, practice a few extra songs so that on Sunday if you decide to let God deviate your plan you’ll be prepared. Also, don’t be afraid to commit to the urge of the Spirit on Sunday if that’s what you feel. If over the weekend you feel that God is choosing a song that you didn’t choose previously then go for it. If it’s God it will work. He won’t leave you hanging. If it was just bad pizza talking back to you then you might be in trouble!

Let’s learn to stop, breathe and listen to God. Let Him direct our worship leading. There is no other source that should dictate to us the direction of a worship set. God and God alone. It’s about Him anyway. Don’t you think we should include Him? 

Video Masterpiece

Kyle, our youth guy, my drummer and video director/editor extraordinaire came up this video yesterday. Our whole staff got roped into it except for me, I came in late yesterday. I can’t decide yet if I’m glad I missed it or if I just missed it. This is funny.

Oh Yea… I forgot!

I forgot something very important!

Favor of God has a wonderful man that administrates the ministry there in Gulu, Africa named Francisco. We didn’t get a chance to meet him while we were there because a few days before we arrived he had been in motorcycle accident and received a compound fracture on his arm. He was transported to Kimpala, the capital city of Uganda, so that he could receive better medical treatment. Over the past 4 months he has been traveling the 8 hour one way trip from Gulu to Kimpala for rehab. He was concerned because his arm was not getting better in fact it was getting worse. Turns out the pins holding his bones together had come apart and has been doing further damage to his bones. So he’s been doing rehab for months with a broken arm. A doctor in Oklahoma City has offered to donate the procedure that will repair his arm, which is awesome. Here’s where we come in. He needs to get here from Africa and he will need to travel with someone. It costs $2,000/traveler to get them here. That’s just airfare. Once they’re here their accomidations will be taken care of.

 

So, PLEASE pray about donating to Favor of God to help Francisco get to Oklahoma City so he can get the medical care he needs! Go to Favorofgod.org to find out how to donate or contact the ministry. You may also contact the church I work for and we’ll help you get connected with Favor of God. You can go to The Edge Church.com to get ahold of me.

Thanks!

Africa is calling…

A few weeks ago I had the chance to go to Grace Church and speak about my trip to Africa. I know, I know. I haven’t posted about my trip! I promise I will at some point! Anyway, let me tell my story….

Grace Church graciously, he he, gave me the support I needed to get to Africa. I knew I missed Africa but I really had no idea how much. I barely got through some parts of the pictures and videos we took without breaking down like a little girl. My heart is so connected with Gulu and the ministry there called ‘Favor of God‘. I will be going back this year and at least once a year until for as long as I can. They have put up a new blog site called FavorofGodBlog.org. There are pictures and videos there as well.

I really want to encourage you to stop by and learn about their ministry, to pray for their ministry and the wonderful people there and then to pray about supporting that ministry. Favor of God is on the ground and established there in northern Uganda. Support what their doing and what God is doing through them. Dive in to to reading about it and you’ll get hooked….I promise!

Blessings. 

Prosperity Gospel

This is from John Piper. He is the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. I found this today on a blog site from Steve Fee. I’m not really sure what to say about this other than AMEN.

Thoughts? 

God is love

I wrote a song called ‘God is Love’. It talks about learning to love as Christ loves, helping the lost and caring for the poor or who cannot care for themselves…… I find myself conflicted. I’m torn between what I actually do and what is in my heart to do. See….there is something stirring in my heart with such power and conviction. I know there is. But for some reason I suppress it. Somehow whatever is broken inside of me won’t let the compassion I have freely pour out. It does some in my song writing but that’s not enough. I watched a great movie called ‘The Kingdom’ last night. It’s about a terrorist attack on Americans in Saudi Arabia by a cell leader and how 4 FBI agents come to help figure it out and catch the bad guy. You’ll have to watch the movie to get the rest. You should, by the way, because it’s a great movie…..For some reason it’s made me think of compassion or maybe I should say the lack of compassion. If we really believe that Christ is the way. I don’t mean just the way to heaven but THE WAY to base your way of life on….then are we really acting on it? There are a million examples why you should not have compassion for someone. There is only One huge reason why you should. It is definately NOT the easy way, but it’s the right way. It’s funny that every time we sing this song somewhere people really get in to it. They seem to really internalize the words. Why is that? I believe it’s because it’s truth….and truth is attractive. The real truth is that unfortunately we love that fact that we’re loved with an amazing grace of Jesus but can’t be compassionate enough to not give the ol’ number one to the guy who just cut you off. Trust me, I’m the biggest offender. Resolve? I’m working on it. I’m asking Jesus daily to remind me of His compassion for me so that I may somehow impart that compassion on others. I do know this. Love is all this world needs…..God IS love and You are God. Jesus show us how to love as you love.

Good Bye 20’s!

Well, it’s happened…. I’m 30!It’s weird because I don’t feel different but I do. Does that make sense? For some reason 30 has made me consider things more deeply. Things like…’I'm 30 and how is my spiritual life?’ or ‘What are my long term goals and what am I really doing to get it done?’ I know 30 is young. Unless you’re one of my myspace friends from my band…..I’m like you’re grandfather! But, honestly life seems shorter. It seems like there isn’t as much time to do what I need to. So, what’s the resolve? Too tighten up. Be more efficient.  Push harder on things that really matter. Things like Guitar Hero or Rock Band… ha! Hopefully I’ll post again in a year and I will have lived these things with evidence. Hopefully I’ll be closer to Jesus, closer to my wife and children (i have one on the way!), more accomplished in my ministry and job. May God bless you and I with diligence, vision and passion to do what He has called us to do.Blessings from the old guy!!

I’m not anti-technology

It’s been perceived that I’m anti-technology….Let me say that I’m no where NEAR anti-technology. I’m anti-technology in place of vision. I just think it’s sad that our church culture has become so complacent that we have stooped to replacing vision with technology. Everyone has a mission statement. And it probably goes something like….’to reach the lost and the un-churched of our community’. Sound familiar? The follow up question should be how do you plan to accomplish that mission? And the answer for $200? TECHNOLOGY! That’s right!There is a church or maybe I should say churches in my side of the states called Lifechurch.tv. They get a lot of flack about how they do church. Mainly because of their over the top and sometimes controversial series. They are a church absolutely filled with technology. In fact, they have an actual online or virtual church. Now, I don’t have a huge problem with how they do technology. Not that I don’t personally disagree with much of HOW they do things in general but they are at least following their vision. My rub is with ministries that think the way to grow their church is to emulate a church like Lifechurch. How do you tell the difference? Just ask someone from Life about their vision. You’ll know right away that they are working fully within their vision. You may not agree with it….. but they are on task. Now go ask someone who is doing something LIKE Life and see how they are accomplishing their vision. You might be surprised…..or disappointed!Technology in ministry is both a blessing and curse. What a blessing to help people engage and experience God in new and fresh ways, but what a curse to have that blessing reduced to a crutch that many churches use in place of real vision to accomplish what God has called them to do.  What’s the difference? Does the technology have a purpose? You may say yes! 40 plasmas around the building with powerpoint running on them lets everyone know about what’s going on at the church. OR you could use the several thousands of dollars spent and help those in your community with utility bills and actually give that money purpose. Does 6 expensive moving head lights add atmosphere to your worship experience? I think it can. OR does it just simply distract and reduce the power of the experience to a rock show rather than a worship set created to help His people experience Him?These are questions I believe we should be asking ourselves each time we introduce something new in to our ministries. Technology is awesome. But are we using it simply because it’s awesome…. or because it purposefully helps us meet with Jesus. I love technology… I have a blackberry that is VERY purposeful…. I have an iPod that I have jammed pack with music I dare say I couldn’t live without. Ok, I could…. I guess….. if I had to. I have a Mac that is awesome! If you have a PC… repent! The time of reckoning is near!