Familiar Verse - New Revelation

I have read Luke 10:38-42 many times, but I haven't caught this before. I'm reading the ESV this year, and I love the translation they use.

This is the familiar story of Mary and Martha and how they act when Jesus visits their home. The text tells us that Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened to his teaching. Verse 40 then says, "But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." Jesus goes on to respond to Martha with these words"

But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen THE GOOD PORTION, which will not be taken away from her.

THE GOOD PORTION! Somehow I had missed those three words for 33 years. And now in the past week I can't get them out of my head. In ministry and life in general we get so busy doing things (even good things like serving at church or in the community) that we forget to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to his teaching.

So today, may you do the one thing necessary and choose THE GOOD PORTION.

1%

Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church gave this quote at the Unplugged Conference I attended about a month ago. He said this:

"Pay attention to details. Everything says something about something. 1% of what you do makes 99% of the difference."

I totally agree with this, as I'm a detail person myself. I wish I had more vision casting capability, but my strengths include detail and execution.

So I want to play this out for you in how the 1% rule makes all the difference in the world in worship services.

Last Wednesday night our praise team practice a set of songs that included: Open the eyes of my heart Lord; The Stand; Your Name; and Breathe. This was to be the set before the message, which was on Abraham and the Covenant. We were supposed to end the services with a song of response - For Who You Are by Hillsong.

It was an acoustic set, with 2 acoustic guitars, a bass guitar and a djembe. So after the entire practice was over, Jenny (the worship leader that week) called and said the songs just felt like they fit better as a response to being people of the covenant, rather than opening songs. So we followed the Spirit's leading and switched everything around.

And that little detail - the 1% detail made a 99% difference in the entire service. Rather than having an acoustic opening set that was pretty meditative (and potentially not engaging), we had a powerful time of response after the message by singing together for 15 minutes.

The courage to change things up and pay attention to the 1% detail, made a 99% difference. Thanks Jenny!

Lead Worshiper - Part 2

In the last post, we established that everyone serving on Sunday mornings is a lead worshiper. From people on stage to people backstage to those in the tech booth, we're all lead worshipers.

Today, I wan to focus on what we need to do to be the best lead worshipers we can possibly be, and again this comes right out of Rory Noland's The Worshiping Artist.

Noland says, "The first step in becoming a worshiping artist, and an effective worshiper, is to become a vibrant private worshiper. You can't lead others in an experience that you yourself aren't having already."

Author Jerry Bridges puts it this way, "The vitality and genuineness of corporate worship is to a large degree dependent upon the vitality of our individual private worship. If we aren't spending time daily worshiping God, we're not apt to contribute to the corporate experience of worship. If we aren't worshiping God during the week, how can we expect to genuinely participate in it on Sunday morning? We may indeed go through the motions and think we have worshiped, but how can we honor and adore One on Sunday whom we have not taken time to praise and give thanks to during the week?"

Noland finishes this section by writing, "If a church wanted to take the next step in improving its worship, I wouldn't rush to change the program or find a new worship leader, I would encourage every member to become a personal worshiper."

I don't have this all figured out yet, and there are still a number of days where I don't feel like a private worshiper, but I'm working on it. And that's my prayer right now for the worship team at Cherry Hills. I want us to work on our hearts; on our private worship. We're bringing in Joe Horness on August 23rd to help us learn how to do this better, but we can start today.

Spend a few minutes today reading the Bible and keeping company with God. Listen to praise music in the car when you're driving to work or running an errand. Or how about turn the television off tonight for a few minutes and pray in silence.

I'm convinced this is the next great step for our worship arts ministry. God has provided all the talent in the world, now we need to be good stewards.

Lead Worshipers

I'm reading Rory Noland's "The Worshiping Artist", and he makes a great statement that all people that serve on Sunday mornings need to hear.

He says this, "Some church artists don't readily view themselves as worship leaders. For so long, this title has traditionally been given to the "up-front" paid professional at the church - the person who puts the worship order together and speaks during transitions. However, today there is a growing realization that if you're using your artistic gifts to facilitate worship in any way, you are indeed leading worship. Whether you sing, play, write, paint, act, dance, mix sound, run lyric slides, or direct lighting, whether you solo or sing in the choir, whether you lead visibly "up-front" or labor behind the scenes, the congregation follows your lead. Hence, you are a worship leader. Or to use the phrase most people are using these days, you are a lead worshiper."

Whether you're leading worship at Cherry Hills this weekend or another church, I hope you realize this truth - you're a lead worshiper.

Old School

I'm listening to a cd recorded in 1997 by Jennifer Knapp called Kansas. This is one of the best albums I have - period. Knapp has only released three studio albums, plus a live album and greatest hits, but I don't think any of her music is as good as her debut album.

Check it out, and let me know if you like the music.

Fair Trade Coffee

Last month I attended the Unplugged Conference at National Community Church in Washington D.C. A great conference limited to 50 pastors held at Ebeneezer’s Cofeehouse. This is a cool coffee house, actually owned and operated by the church. And I have to tell you the coffee they serve there is fantastic. I’m an admitted coffee snob, and this stuff was good. They serve Larry’s Beans coffee, which is fair trade and organic.

I liked the coffee so much that I ordered a pound of the “Frank’s Sumatra blend” when I got back to Springfield. And I plan to continue ordering from Larry’s.

I had heard of fair trade practices before, but I’ve been convicted lately to purchase fair trade products when I have the opportunity. Here’s some info on fair trade coffee if this is the first time you’re hearing about it: Over 70% of the world's coffee comes from small family farmers who don't have trucks to transport their crop and or access to info about its market value. Plus, there's been a huge oversupply of low grade, environmentally unfriendly coffee on the market which has caused ALL prices to drop. Even farmers who produce superior coffee get pressured to sell for prices that make it a struggle just to break even. Meanwhile the giant coffee companies that keep driving the prices down rarely if ever lower their prices for the consumer. (Taken from Larry's Beans website)

At Larry’s Beans they pay the International Fair Trade price on all their coffees, they visit the farmers regularly, and give the farmers repeat business. This allows local families who grow coffee for a living to make an honest wage for their work.

And while you won’t find the words coffee or fair trade in the Bible, there are plenty of examples of treating people with respect and fairness. Buying fair trade coffee won’t solve all of the world’s problems, but you can make a difference in someone’s life. Heck, if you’re going to drink coffee anyway, you ought to drink coffee with a cause! Let me know if you decide to go online and order Larry’s Beans.

Sunday Instrumental

Cherry Hills believes in gift-based ministry. We believe that all followers of Jesus are given spiritual gifts in order to build up the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:1-11; 1 Peter 4:10). To that end, we encourage people to discover their gifts and get plugged into ministries that they can develop and utilize those gifts (which many times are the person's passion).


Worship arts uses this gift-based ministry philosophy, and strategically chooses people gifted in instrumental music, vocals, creative design, dance, drama, video, audio, bells and other worship arts to be lead worshipers during our Sunday morning worship services.


With that in mind, this past Sunday we were able to hear the gifts of a few of our instrumentalists. As I told the congregation Sunday, the creative team usually tries to pair the teaching message of the day with specific songs in the song set, choir presentation, and the offering music. Well, this past Sunday we were talking about Abraham giving Lot the first choice of land - and Abraham taking second place. We couldn't find any songs dealing with the giving away of land, so I asked our band to play during the offering.


You can listen to their instrumental by clicking on the mp3 player below.

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The guys came up with this in about 15 minutes on Wednesday night - talk about giftedness. Charles Rayot on drum set, Chuck Davidson on percussion, Alex Kinkaid on acoustic, Ron Dace on bass and Jeff Kruger featured on electric guitar.

Thanks to God for giving gifts, and thanks to these guys for using their gifts to glorify Him. I hope you enjoy the song.

Baptism Sunday

We celebrate baptism Sundays approximately 4 times a year, and this past Sunday was one of those days. On Sunday, we baptized 14 people - children and adults, and watched Greg's baptism on video. These Sundays are the highlight in the life of our church.

I grew up probably undervaluing baptims, and not fully understanding how important it is. And I now go to a seminary which has historically placed too much emphasis on baptism (water regeneration), so I've had to come to some beliefs about baptism on my own through the reading of the Bible.

I'm reading the Gospel of Luke right now, and I just read about John the Baptist immersing people, including Jesus. And in Chapter 3, John tells the Pharisees and the crowds that baptism was of no value unless accompanied by a deep inner change of heart (repentance).

Salvation comes through confessing that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord; and in baptism we are identified in the death and life of Jesus Christ, and are publicly making the declaration that we will die to ourselves and put Christ first. In baptism we are declaring that we will deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.

Three things stand out to me on a baptism Sunday. One, the people getting baptized are making a huge, important, life-changing, dangerous decision to follow Jesus. Two, followers of Jesus who have already been baptized have the opportunity to be reminded about the importance of their own baptism - and we can be reminded to live our baptism every day. And three, people who are still on the way have an opportunity to see how Jesus changes lives. I'm already looking forward to our next baptism service on October 19, 2008.

Fall Music Releases

I wanted to share with you some of the new releases that I'll be waiting for this fall. I'll be listening for personal reasons, but also to see if there are any congregational songs on any of these albums. For a complete list of new Christian music out this fall, you can go to New Release Tuesday.

July 29 - Third Day (Revelation)

August 5 - Hillsong (This is our God)

August 19 - Charlie Hall (The Bright Sadness)

August 19 - Ten Shekel Shirt (Jubilee)

September 2 - Chris Tomlin (Hello Love)

September 16 - Bebo Norman (TBD)

September 23 - Lincoln Brewster (Today is the day)

September 23 - New Life Worship (Counting on God)

November 11 - Fee (TBD)

November 25 - Passion (TBD)

And for those interested, the greatest band in the world is rumored to be releasing a new album in late 2008, but it will probably drop sometime in early 2009. For all of you who need an explanation, I'm talking about U2.

Victory!

I was at the gym this morning listening to Fee's album We Shine. This has to be one of the best albums of the year. From top to bottom, every song is great. I highly recommend picking this up for your own personal listening, but also for some corporate songs. I think we'll be trying "How Beautiful The Blood" before the end of the year. I sang it corporately at National Community Church in Washington DC a few weeks ago, and it works really well in the corporate setting.

Fee's entire album is about the victory of Jesus and the freedom that we have in Him. As we look forward to this Sunday at Cherry Hills, we are celebrating the baptism of 14 people - children and adults. I am so thankful for the victory of Jesus and the freedom he provides - victory and freedom from sin, guilt, condemnation, addiction, death...

I'm reminded of a description of Jesus that I've learned in seminary. Jesus is the Christus Victor. This description, first offered by Gustaf Aulen in his 1931 book by the same title drew attention back to the classic early church understanding of atonement. In that book, Aulen writes this, "The work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage: sin, death, and the devil." So as we're set to baptize people Sunday, I'm thankful that Jesus is the Christus Victor and that we can sing songs of victory together in a few days like "Our God Saves," "I am Free," and "Awesome is the Lord Most High."

Getting Started - What is Worship?

Before writing anything about our worship services, or thoughts behind why we do certain elements of worship on Sunday mornings, I wanted to provide my theology of worship. Everything we do stems from the following beliefs:

We all worship something. Some of us worship money, some social status, others sports teams, food, recreation, travel – most of us worship ourselves. Those who follow Jesus worship the One True God, Yahweh, but often we do not stop to consider who it is we worship, who we are in relationship to the Creator, or our response to Him.

Who is God?: Attempting to answer this question is a daunting task. When I look back over my notes from Lincoln Christian Seminary’s Systematic Theology class, I read the following, “God transcends finite human categories…Theology speaks of God adequately because it speaks of God by analogy,” because we do not have the words to describe God. Yet God has revealed himself to us through His Word and His Son.

God is the initiator of worship because He is God. God has always been and will always be the Triune God who has revealed Himself in creation, the redemption and salvation of humankind through His Son Jesus Christ, and still speaks to us today through the Holy Spirit inspired Living Word.

I could list over 350 names, titles and descriptions of God found in the Bible, including I AM (Exodus 3:14), Judge (Gen. 18:25; 1 Sam. 24:15), Deliverer (Ps. 104:7), The Way (John 14:6), Righteous One (Acts 3:14), and the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33). But the one characteristic that defines God is love (1 John 4:8-9). John tells us, “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” In his gospel John tells us “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (3:16 NIV) All descriptions of God ultimately come back to this foundational characteristic – God is love.

Who Am I?: Because we have a God that is defined as love; because we are created in God’s image (Gen. 1:26) and we are known intimately by the Creator, we know with certainty that we are the object of his affection.. The Psalmist tells us, “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:15-16 NIV)

While we are made in the image of the Creator, because of the Fall (Gen. 3) we are separated from God by the chasm of sin. Romans 5:12 states, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…” In fact, we are told that we are born enemies of God. (Romans 5:10 NIV)
Yet, even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes. (Eph. 1:4), and this was accomplished through God’s own Son Jesus Christ. God’s redemptive plan is first revealed in Genesis 3:15 and continues to unfold in the patience, mercy and love of God towards His people in the Old Testament, ultimately fulfilled in His beloved Son Jesus Christ. Romans 3:23 declares, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

In the greatest example of love the world has ever known, Jesus served as the once and for all sacrifice. (Heb. 9:26) Because of this act of love, those who believe in Him are new creations (1 Cor. 5:17), the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21), not condemned (Rom. 8:1), sealed in Him (Eph. 1:13), Holy and blameless (Eph. 1:4), raised up with Christ (Col. 3:1), forgiven (Col. 3:13), justified (Rom. 8:30), sanctified (Heb. 10:10), perfected (Heb. 10:14), beyond reproach (Col. 1:22), complete (Col. 2:10), redeemed (1 Cor. 1:30), a citizen of Heaven (Phil. 3:20), and beloved (Col. 2:12). This is why we worship Jesus Christ – our Savior King.

How do I respond to God: My response to a sovereign God can be nothing less than my entire life; everything that I am – mind, heart, soul and strength; whether this takes place in the workplace, home, shopping center, softball diamond or in corporate gatherings of worship at church.

Worship in the Old Testament was marked with ritual sacrifices and offerings. But in the midst of the law and all of the regulations handed down in the Torah, God was still concerned about the motives of the people. He spoke through the prophets saying, “These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” (Isaiah 29:13 NIV), and “I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know Me, more than I want burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6 NLT) Behind of all the rules and regulations in the OT lay the foundation of all worship – the heart.

When we look at the New Testament we do not find prescriptions for worship as we do in the Old Testament. In fact, very little is actually taught about worship directly. Instead of teaching about rules and regulations of worship, Jesus taught about the heart. He taught that the Father is still looking for worshippers who worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23), in essence saying, “Love the Lord your God alone and love Him with everything you have.” This sounds very similar to the heart of the law, the Schema found in Dt. 6:4-5 and the greatest commandment as told by Jesus in Mark 12:29-31; love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength.

My response to God is based on the story that I see played out through the entire Bible. God has always wanted and still wants the hearts of His people. More than anything I can do for God, he wants me – he wants my heart, and my entire life is a sacrifice to Him. I pray my life is a pleasant aroma offered to the only One worthy of being worshipped.

Well this will be by far the longest post on this site. But I wanted to establish a foundation to build on. Tell me what you think? How would you define worship?