For a Good Laugh...

Check out the Veritcal Creativity blog and DeAnn's post on "corporate" worship:

http://verticalcreativity.blogspot.com/2008/09/corporate-worship-music.html

Great stuff!

Recap of Yesterday's Worship Pow-Wow

Since some of us were not able to attend the worship team meeting yesterday (we missed ya!) I wanted to give you a quick recap of what we covered…

The focus was on Doing Life & Ministry Together…and how that involves the heart and art of us as lead worshippers. Gordon shared about Beyond Sundays and how that will be starting this Weds, Sept. 17. He also shared about how his role as Pastoral Worship Leader has really opened the door for the worship team to see him and this ministry area as safe outlets to share, confide and ask for prayer and help. We want you to continue to know how much we value being on this journey of LIFE with you – not just what you offer musically but you as a person made whole. He also covered the team covenants and suggested we keep them in a visible place as a reminder of what we are mutually striving towards and desiring together. Finally, he shared how being a servant leader is at the heart of what it means to be a worshipper. Jesus is the ultimate model for us (Philippians 2).

I shared more on the ART side of the equation…I began by thanking all of you for your love and fellowship as I continue to become a part of the “family”. It has been a joy to lead and serve all of you. Then I hit on a bunch of different ways we can serve each other:

• By bringing the best of our gifts & talents to the table each time we serve – never “mailing” it in!
• By continuing to maximize the gifts & talents God has given us (see 1 Chron. 25:7 for inspiration)
• By “releasing” our gifts to be used in whatever way best serves the needs of the team and congregation – this is a HUGE point and one I think we’ll need to keep revisiting. Nancy Beach refers to this as "holding our gifts loosely" in An Hour on Sunday
• By looking to encourage one another each time we are on the team
• By being willing to receive constructive feedback (Bonnie brought this up!) – in other words, recognizing we are all working towards the same goal (pointing each other towards our great God) and that we inspire each other to be the best we can
• By NOT wishing we were playing with different people…
• By making an effort to know who is running sound and PowerPoint and respecting their tasks
• By coming to rehearsal on time and prepared…again, respecting your teammates and their time
• FINALLY…by listening to each other. This is probably THE #1 thing every worship team I’ve ever worked with has to keep working on. I showed a clip from a Paul Baloche training DVD we are going to use in a workshop.

We ended with prayer. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Beyond Sundays starts this Weds. Please pray!
• Sat., Nov. 1, 9 to noon – All-Team Workshop & New Song Jam (more details forthcoming)

Have a great week…

Catch the Regulators with Ken Smith

Ken Smith, who plays bass on our worship team, is in band called the Regulators. His band will be playing at the Roosevelt Tavern (click here for map) on Friday, October 17 and Friday, November 14 - both are from 8-11pm. I've heard a little bit of some of the band's music and it's got a great jazz groove - go out with the spouse or friends and support our brother Ken!

Today's Dose of Oswald Chambers

Some of you are no doubt familiar with Oswald Chambers and his daily devotional classic My Utmost for His Highest. Actually the daily entries are adapted from various lectures and talks that Chambers gave in the early 20th century.

Every time I read one of the entries in My Utmost for His Highest I come across a line that provokes and inspires me...and today was no different:

"If you have not been worshipping as occasion serves, when you get into work you will not only be useless yourself, but a tremendous hindrance to those who are associated with you."

The way I interpreted this was that if we are not worshipping God in our unseen lives we will have nothing to offer as we minister on Sunday mornings. Not only will we be unfit to genuinely lead people in worship but we will actually be a hindrance to our fellow team members.

The good news is that God is always there to forgive us and will draw near to us as we draw near to Him (James 4:8). It is a question of acknowledging our need for Him and being intentional about cultivating a lifestyle of worship. But none of should be fooled into thinking that there is an on/off switch as a worshipper. We can't just manufacture sincerity on Sunday mornings; it is the overflow of hearts that have worshipped in the small moments - the "offstage" moments.

May we all strive to be "unseen" worshippers as much as we are "seen" on Sundays.