December “Worship” Wrap up!
Wow, it’s hard to believe another year has come and gone already. This season and time of year has always been one of my favorite. I guess it’s mainly because the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas bring with them fond memories of years’ long since passed. December signals both a time of bringing the year to a close as well as a time of rebirth and renewal for the coming New Year ahead. As we “wrap up” another year and prepare for the coming holiday and all that it brings with it - all the foods, the putting up of decorations, the giving and receiving of gifts, the Christmas carols and songs being sung almost everywhere, the chilly weather, the end of the year tax adjustments, the writing of cards and letters to love ones far away, the parties and desserts, the never ending stream of evening Christmas themed TV shows, movies and cartoons – the list goes on and on! Funny thing, as crazy as it often gets - I still look forward to it! Even so, we should all take pause and consider this somber thought to help us “wrap it all up” – there are some folks for whom this is also the darkest and most difficult time of year. Those, who because of their circumstance may not feel the same joy and celebration as others do. Jesus called his followers to be a light in a dark world – and this IS the darkest time of the year!
“Let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16 NET)
As an act of “worship” – I encourage you to set aside some time in the weeks ahead to seek out someone who may be in the dark, and shine the light of Jesus’ love into their life. Be a friend, a good listener, give them drink or food, clothe them or find a need they have and help them to fill it. Let them know you do this in the name of Jesus who was born as child to be God with us and live among us – to be taken and put on a cross to die for our sins to free us to be a light to the world!
Merry Christmas to all and a blessed Happy New Year!
- D. Farmer
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Hallmark Worship
The Hallmark Greeting Card company recently celebrated its 100 birthday, it was originally founded in 1910 by Joyce C. Hall who became captivated one afternoon by a postcard salesmen who had stopped by the family store selling postcards from a shoebox. Now in 2010, the Hallmark Company employees nearly 10,000 men and women dedicated to a simple principal and slogan adopted in 1944 that was created and written on a cocktail napkin by a company salesmen at a meeting – do you know what that famous slogan is?
“When you care enough to send the very best!”
Everyday Hallmark artisans spend hours and hours trying to come up with new, clever and even more creative ways to simply say “I Love You, Thank you, or Happy Anniversary!” – Its what has kept the company in business for all these years. Now, what has all this to do with worship you ask? Well, it’s simple; every Sunday we gather together in worship for much the same simple reasons of offering up our thanks to God, or lifting up the Lord’s name in praise and worship and telling him how much we love Him and how grateful we are for his mercy and grace in sending his precious Son, Jesus to take on the sins of the world – all our sins, so that we might have the opportunity to spend eternity with him in Heaven. This is why we sing, and this is why we must always strive to find new and creative ways to worship God, to show him we ‘care enough to send the very best.’ The best of ourselves, the best of what we have to offer him. Even if it isn’t much – he knows when we’ve sent him our very best, or when we’ve sent him – just enough to get by.
“When you care enough to send the very best!”
Everyday Hallmark artisans spend hours and hours trying to come up with new, clever and even more creative ways to simply say “I Love You, Thank you, or Happy Anniversary!” – Its what has kept the company in business for all these years. Now, what has all this to do with worship you ask? Well, it’s simple; every Sunday we gather together in worship for much the same simple reasons of offering up our thanks to God, or lifting up the Lord’s name in praise and worship and telling him how much we love Him and how grateful we are for his mercy and grace in sending his precious Son, Jesus to take on the sins of the world – all our sins, so that we might have the opportunity to spend eternity with him in Heaven. This is why we sing, and this is why we must always strive to find new and creative ways to worship God, to show him we ‘care enough to send the very best.’ The best of ourselves, the best of what we have to offer him. Even if it isn’t much – he knows when we’ve sent him our very best, or when we’ve sent him – just enough to get by.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
A "Crazy Love" indeed...
What a Crazy Love
I’ve been reading this book called “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan over the last few weeks and it has really opened my eyes to some incredible things! For instance, did you know that scientists currently estimate that there are nearly 350,000,000,000 galaxies in the known universe! Most of those have never even been seen with human eyes until their discovery with the Hubble Space telescope. Or that the average elm tree has approximately 6 million leaves on it! (I wonder how they figured that one out) or that the human heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body to squirt blood up to 30 feet! (I don’t recommend trying to prove this) as well as many other amazing facts of God’s creation and genius that it’s just simply “Crazy” that such a vast and creative Lord and Creator, would even want to be concerned with you and I.
The bible says “The heavens declare the Glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1) Chan suggests to us in chapter one of his book to “stop praying” for awhile – stop praying to God and take a long hard look at Him without speaking a single word… Solomon warned us not to rush like fools into God’s presence with words, yet often that just what we do.
Funny thing… it was just a week or two after I started reading this book, that a news story came out about one of the smartest men in the world (Stephen Hawking) making the bold assertion that there was no need for God in the creation of the universe! As I listened on to the news story on the news, I became saddened and angry to think that someone so influential could make such a bold and arrogant statement! “How could he say that?” I muttered to myself.
Even so, I quietly continued to read on in my book “Crazy Love” and within a few pages I passed upon another section where Chan quotes again from Psalms. Then I read it and froze for a moment… “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)
I paused in my book, turned off the television set and sat smiling to myself for a few moments as I went outside to look up quietly at all the stars in the sky I could see…
I’ve been reading this book called “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan over the last few weeks and it has really opened my eyes to some incredible things! For instance, did you know that scientists currently estimate that there are nearly 350,000,000,000 galaxies in the known universe! Most of those have never even been seen with human eyes until their discovery with the Hubble Space telescope. Or that the average elm tree has approximately 6 million leaves on it! (I wonder how they figured that one out) or that the human heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body to squirt blood up to 30 feet! (I don’t recommend trying to prove this) as well as many other amazing facts of God’s creation and genius that it’s just simply “Crazy” that such a vast and creative Lord and Creator, would even want to be concerned with you and I.
The bible says “The heavens declare the Glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1) Chan suggests to us in chapter one of his book to “stop praying” for awhile – stop praying to God and take a long hard look at Him without speaking a single word… Solomon warned us not to rush like fools into God’s presence with words, yet often that just what we do.
Funny thing… it was just a week or two after I started reading this book, that a news story came out about one of the smartest men in the world (Stephen Hawking) making the bold assertion that there was no need for God in the creation of the universe! As I listened on to the news story on the news, I became saddened and angry to think that someone so influential could make such a bold and arrogant statement! “How could he say that?” I muttered to myself.
Even so, I quietly continued to read on in my book “Crazy Love” and within a few pages I passed upon another section where Chan quotes again from Psalms. Then I read it and froze for a moment… “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1)
I paused in my book, turned off the television set and sat smiling to myself for a few moments as I went outside to look up quietly at all the stars in the sky I could see…
Thursday, September 23, 2010
What Dreams have you had lately?
What Dreams have you had lately?
All Things are possible through God as Abraham and Sarah would surely discover for themselves after many years of dreaming and hoping for a son, they just were not patient enough to wait on the Lord! They had to try and do things on their own and force the issue – thus came forth the son Ishmael. God shared with Abraham his vision and promise to him – His dream for Abraham as it were. But somewhere along the way, Abraham and Sarah began to lose faith in the dream that God had for them, and decided to speed things up – to do things their own way instead of God’s way and in His time.
We all need to have a dream. Without a dream or vision for our lives – we lose hope, we quit, we give up, we may even eventually perish!
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
What dreams do you have for your life? What about dreams for your family or your church? Or even for your worship time with God?
Do we sometimes give up on our dreams too soon as Abraham and Sarah did trying to do things on our own? And what usually happens when we try to make our dreams happen too soon? If you’re like me, I usually mess something up somewhere and have either start over or give up in my effort as something goes wrong that I didn’t plan on.
A few years ago – I stood by and watched, helplessly as a once proud and noble church in our community slowly fell apart, crumbled, withered and died. A long time ago God gave the people of that church a dream – but some within the church chose to do things their way – rather than wait on the Lord and his timetable to work things His way. God gave Noah the vision to build a gigantic boat – but what would have happened if Noah had quit waiting for rain and given up building a boat just because it was just taking too long? God gave Joseph dreams of the future, but Joseph had no way of knowing that those dreams would save lives and shape the future of two entire nations! Dreams take faith to bring to reality. A faith that means not holding on or looking back at the past or worrying only about the present – but a strong faith to see the possibilities that God’s promise holds for the future!
What dreams have you had lately?
All Things are possible through God as Abraham and Sarah would surely discover for themselves after many years of dreaming and hoping for a son, they just were not patient enough to wait on the Lord! They had to try and do things on their own and force the issue – thus came forth the son Ishmael. God shared with Abraham his vision and promise to him – His dream for Abraham as it were. But somewhere along the way, Abraham and Sarah began to lose faith in the dream that God had for them, and decided to speed things up – to do things their own way instead of God’s way and in His time.
We all need to have a dream. Without a dream or vision for our lives – we lose hope, we quit, we give up, we may even eventually perish!
“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
What dreams do you have for your life? What about dreams for your family or your church? Or even for your worship time with God?
Do we sometimes give up on our dreams too soon as Abraham and Sarah did trying to do things on our own? And what usually happens when we try to make our dreams happen too soon? If you’re like me, I usually mess something up somewhere and have either start over or give up in my effort as something goes wrong that I didn’t plan on.
A few years ago – I stood by and watched, helplessly as a once proud and noble church in our community slowly fell apart, crumbled, withered and died. A long time ago God gave the people of that church a dream – but some within the church chose to do things their way – rather than wait on the Lord and his timetable to work things His way. God gave Noah the vision to build a gigantic boat – but what would have happened if Noah had quit waiting for rain and given up building a boat just because it was just taking too long? God gave Joseph dreams of the future, but Joseph had no way of knowing that those dreams would save lives and shape the future of two entire nations! Dreams take faith to bring to reality. A faith that means not holding on or looking back at the past or worrying only about the present – but a strong faith to see the possibilities that God’s promise holds for the future!
What dreams have you had lately?
Sunday, July 25, 2010
We were made to Worship!
We were made to Worship
A few years ago a little book quietly came out by a relatively unknown author at the time, and took the nation and the world by storm. Soon believers and non-believers alike were all discussing this book and considering what new things it had to say about the very nature of the intimate relationship we share with our divine maker. Of course the book I’m speaking of is “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. Throughout his book, Warren makes the case that we are not put here on this earth by accident, but rather that we are here with a purpose – we are put here by God and for God. Chapter one opens up with the title “It all starts with God” quoting from Colossians;
“For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible… everything got started in Him and finds it’s purpose in Him.” Col. 1:16 (Msg.)
A few years ago one of my favorite worship leaders/songwriters Christ Tomlin came out with a song called “Made to Worship” and speaks directly about what our place is in the grand scheme of things in one of my favorite lines from the song:
All we are,And all we have
Is all a gift from God that we receive
Brought to life
We open up our eyes
To see the majesty and glory of the King
Everything we are, everything we do and everything we say, sing – even our very existence itself is all a testimony to the greatness, the glory the majesty – and yes, even the awesomeness (Dare I say that word) of God! It’s all there in Psalm 100.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:1-3 NIV)
So, smile next Sunday and feel confident in that “so much as you are able” when you sing you are pleasing to God and beautiful in his sight! No matter what your voice may sound like and no matter how tall or short you are – you are becoming to God! God created you to worship him and that is all that is important - and all that we need to remember to make sense out of our busy and sometimes crazy lives!
Have a blessed month!
Dave Farmer
A few years ago a little book quietly came out by a relatively unknown author at the time, and took the nation and the world by storm. Soon believers and non-believers alike were all discussing this book and considering what new things it had to say about the very nature of the intimate relationship we share with our divine maker. Of course the book I’m speaking of is “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren. Throughout his book, Warren makes the case that we are not put here on this earth by accident, but rather that we are here with a purpose – we are put here by God and for God. Chapter one opens up with the title “It all starts with God” quoting from Colossians;
“For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible… everything got started in Him and finds it’s purpose in Him.” Col. 1:16 (Msg.)
A few years ago one of my favorite worship leaders/songwriters Christ Tomlin came out with a song called “Made to Worship” and speaks directly about what our place is in the grand scheme of things in one of my favorite lines from the song:
All we are,And all we have
Is all a gift from God that we receive
Brought to life
We open up our eyes
To see the majesty and glory of the King
Everything we are, everything we do and everything we say, sing – even our very existence itself is all a testimony to the greatness, the glory the majesty – and yes, even the awesomeness (Dare I say that word) of God! It’s all there in Psalm 100.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:1-3 NIV)
So, smile next Sunday and feel confident in that “so much as you are able” when you sing you are pleasing to God and beautiful in his sight! No matter what your voice may sound like and no matter how tall or short you are – you are becoming to God! God created you to worship him and that is all that is important - and all that we need to remember to make sense out of our busy and sometimes crazy lives!
Have a blessed month!
Dave Farmer
Friday, July 2, 2010
Freedom!
I write this just a few days before our nation celebrates one of it's most enduring and popular national holidays, "The Fourth of July." Here I was earlier, sitting on my sofa watching the news this evening and becoming so fed up (and somewhat depressed) with all the news that I was hearing about the crisis in gulf, the problems with trying to get the oil contained and cleaned up - as well as the financial worries and concerns about problems relating to the violence between the drug cartels in Mexico and so on and so on - that I finally just grabbed the remote and shut the TV off in frustration... Sitting there staring at the blank screen for several moments in stunned silence! I started thinking about what our forefathers would have thought of all that is going on in our country - and world in the year 2010! Freedom... what does that word really mean anyway?
Even in what most of us would consider to be the most "Free" country in the world - are we really as "free" as we think we are? We chain ourselves down in multitudes of ways that we cannot always see just how "burdened" we've become to our "things." We label ourselves Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives; pro-this or con-that! We have a huge national debt crisis hanging over all of us in the form of paid and un-paid mortgage payments, car payments, credit card debt, bailouts for banks while schools scrimp on paper and pencils and books all the while we just keep seeing more bills, bills, bills! We burden ourselves with worry over a multitude of matters - from paying for our health care and worry over health concerns to how do we pay for our children to go to college or pay for school or daycare for our children. The list goes on and on!
So are we really free?
I just had to turn off the TV and now I hope you can see why I did... Arg! I just sat there for a few minutes breathing deep and trying to relax; letting my thoughts drift away for a few moments. It's times like that when I like to day-dream of being somewhere far away - a cool green meadow amidst the tall Ponderosa pines or maybe sitting on a quite stretch of beach listening to the ocean waves pound the shore... Then I had a song come into my mind! (You knew that was coming I bet, huh?) Just the opening line kept playing in my head over and over... "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom." (the Darrell Evans song - although there are several good "Freedom" worship songs - Charlie Hall has one I like)
That line comes from the book of 2nd Corinthians:
"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NIV)
The Lord's spirit give us Freedom. True holy freedom that overcomes all worry and fear which can hold us in bondage - holding us hostage and making us into slaves, held captive by the ways and things of this life.
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal. 5:1 NIV)
It helps me breath easier to know that as a believer in Christ, I am a "free" man because of His sacrifice for me on the cross and that he came to free us from sin as well as the burdens of slavery to all the ways and worries of this world.
This Sunday, when we are all out celebrating the fourth of July - singing songs like "God Bless America" or "America, the Beautiful" and watching the beautiful evening firework displays, eating BBQ and drinking our favorite soda and then capping it off with a dose of our favorite ice-cream or desserts... (ooh, I'm getting hungry already!) We should all pause, take a deep breath and relax for a few moments, remembering that if we walk in His spirit, we will have Freedom, and joy and hope and Peace! If we place our lives and everything we have in our Lord's hands - and thank God for his Amazing Grace, His grace that truly set us all free!
Blessings to you,
Dave
Even in what most of us would consider to be the most "Free" country in the world - are we really as "free" as we think we are? We chain ourselves down in multitudes of ways that we cannot always see just how "burdened" we've become to our "things." We label ourselves Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives; pro-this or con-that! We have a huge national debt crisis hanging over all of us in the form of paid and un-paid mortgage payments, car payments, credit card debt, bailouts for banks while schools scrimp on paper and pencils and books all the while we just keep seeing more bills, bills, bills! We burden ourselves with worry over a multitude of matters - from paying for our health care and worry over health concerns to how do we pay for our children to go to college or pay for school or daycare for our children. The list goes on and on!
So are we really free?
I just had to turn off the TV and now I hope you can see why I did... Arg! I just sat there for a few minutes breathing deep and trying to relax; letting my thoughts drift away for a few moments. It's times like that when I like to day-dream of being somewhere far away - a cool green meadow amidst the tall Ponderosa pines or maybe sitting on a quite stretch of beach listening to the ocean waves pound the shore... Then I had a song come into my mind! (You knew that was coming I bet, huh?) Just the opening line kept playing in my head over and over... "Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom." (the Darrell Evans song - although there are several good "Freedom" worship songs - Charlie Hall has one I like)
That line comes from the book of 2nd Corinthians:
"But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NIV)
The Lord's spirit give us Freedom. True holy freedom that overcomes all worry and fear which can hold us in bondage - holding us hostage and making us into slaves, held captive by the ways and things of this life.
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal. 5:1 NIV)
It helps me breath easier to know that as a believer in Christ, I am a "free" man because of His sacrifice for me on the cross and that he came to free us from sin as well as the burdens of slavery to all the ways and worries of this world.
This Sunday, when we are all out celebrating the fourth of July - singing songs like "God Bless America" or "America, the Beautiful" and watching the beautiful evening firework displays, eating BBQ and drinking our favorite soda and then capping it off with a dose of our favorite ice-cream or desserts... (ooh, I'm getting hungry already!) We should all pause, take a deep breath and relax for a few moments, remembering that if we walk in His spirit, we will have Freedom, and joy and hope and Peace! If we place our lives and everything we have in our Lord's hands - and thank God for his Amazing Grace, His grace that truly set us all free!
Blessings to you,
Dave
Sunday, June 20, 2010
What does God expect from us as worshippers?
As I begin writing this article for the July newsletter I realize the irony in that today is "Father's Day" and here I am writing an article about what God expects of us as worshippers. So, to begin I will take the following perspective for this article - what does a Father expect of his children? What does our heavenly Father expect his children to do for Him as they grow into men and women of Christ... as worshippers of Him?
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30 (NIV)
Jesus told the people that this was the most important of God's commandments to follow. So clearly, God wants our devotion to Him in all things. This really means that in everything we do in our daily lives, whether it's getting up in the morning, reading the paper and drinking our coffee to going off to work, or spending time with our children even getting ready to go to bed at night - is all to be done in devotion to the Lord. But for this moment let's just focus on our "worship" of Him what he expects of us during that special time.
Is our worship time with the Lord, to ONLY to be on Sunday mornings? Is it limited to our "corporate" worship time? (That means, when we are all together on Sunday mornings as a church congregation.) Absolutely not! However, for some folks this is what is considered worship time - so I'll start there as a frame of reference.
A believer may worship the Lord at any time he or she desires to, and that is pleasing to God. However, there is a special importance and significance in believers gathering together to worship the Lord as the Body of Christ, and He places a special significance and honor in that...
"...But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." (1 Cor. 12: 24-26 NIV)
and within that "body" of believers who are assembled, Jesus promised his presence within...
"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matt. 18:20 NIV)
Well then, what does our heavenly Father want from us then?
God wants our devotion to Him in all things, all times all places and yet He gives us complete freedom in three key areas that we often try to "nail" down to our own ways of thinking -that is the what, the how and the where of our worship. Lets just focus on what God says about the "how" of our worship...
In the book of John, chapter 4, Jesus laid out the definition very clearly for us of what God expects - of what true worship should look like.
"...Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24 NIV)
So getting back to all the worship questions I asked you to ponder on earlier... The best answer I can come up with after reading several different scriptures where each of those questions has a biblical reference in scripture - the best answer I came up with was NO, God doesn't place any "rules" on the "how" of worship. BUT it is clear to see that there are things that we can do to "please" God very much. And after all - what loving child doesn't want to do things to please their Father?
Something to think about.
Blessings,
Dave
Here are some different "worship" questions to ponder on...
Does God expect us to lift or raise our hands during worship? Does God expect us to kneel during worship? Does God demand we sing to Him in worship? Does god expect prayers during worship? Does he command us to sing "new" songs to Him? Does God desire offerings from us?
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Mark 12:30 (NIV)
Jesus told the people that this was the most important of God's commandments to follow. So clearly, God wants our devotion to Him in all things. This really means that in everything we do in our daily lives, whether it's getting up in the morning, reading the paper and drinking our coffee to going off to work, or spending time with our children even getting ready to go to bed at night - is all to be done in devotion to the Lord. But for this moment let's just focus on our "worship" of Him what he expects of us during that special time.
Is our worship time with the Lord, to ONLY to be on Sunday mornings? Is it limited to our "corporate" worship time? (That means, when we are all together on Sunday mornings as a church congregation.) Absolutely not! However, for some folks this is what is considered worship time - so I'll start there as a frame of reference.
A believer may worship the Lord at any time he or she desires to, and that is pleasing to God. However, there is a special importance and significance in believers gathering together to worship the Lord as the Body of Christ, and He places a special significance and honor in that...
"...But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." (1 Cor. 12: 24-26 NIV)
and within that "body" of believers who are assembled, Jesus promised his presence within...
"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matt. 18:20 NIV)
Well then, what does our heavenly Father want from us then?
God wants our devotion to Him in all things, all times all places and yet He gives us complete freedom in three key areas that we often try to "nail" down to our own ways of thinking -that is the what, the how and the where of our worship. Lets just focus on what God says about the "how" of our worship...
In the book of John, chapter 4, Jesus laid out the definition very clearly for us of what God expects - of what true worship should look like.
"...Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24 NIV)
So getting back to all the worship questions I asked you to ponder on earlier... The best answer I can come up with after reading several different scriptures where each of those questions has a biblical reference in scripture - the best answer I came up with was NO, God doesn't place any "rules" on the "how" of worship. BUT it is clear to see that there are things that we can do to "please" God very much. And after all - what loving child doesn't want to do things to please their Father?
Something to think about.
Blessings,
Dave
Sunday, June 13, 2010
My First Worship "Epiphany"
I recall the moment many years ago, when I first accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior... It was around May of 1982 in Tucson, Arizona as I was attending college. A friend of mine (who was also in the choir with me) had invited me around the beginning of the year, to come and sing with him at his church. It seemed their young adult choir at his church were just beginning to put together a special Easter program and they needed some more baritones & basses! So naturally, I jumped right in and helped out. I enjoyed the singing of course, but I really enjoyed the fellowship (I was also going through some personal disappointment at the time) and so after we had finished the Easter program, I continued to attend and found myself curiously drawn to Christ.
One Sunday in May as the pastor was giving his usual "altar-call" something came over me, call it what you will - a voice in my head, the summoning of the spirit or perhaps it was the message that Sunday which laid heavily on my heart - whichever it was - I stood up and walked slowly forward, then gently knelt down on the front steps of the sanctuary. The one single thing I remember the most, was that as I stood up and was walking up to the front of the sanctuary - it was if everything became profoundly silent for what seemed an eternity. It's funny the things that race through your mind at a moment like that. It wasn't scary or anything like that - no, not at all - I felt completely at peace actually... but strangely also felt separated from everything for a while... Even after I was baptised a week or two later - that strange "giddy" feeling lasted for several weeks, maybe even months afterwards. I couldn't explain it. Just a feeling of "joy" and "peace" which I desperately needed at the time and would need in the months that followed as well. (My grandfather would pass away a few months later from prostate cancer just weeks before his 80th birthday... we were close and we lived just a few houses apart)
Time would continue to pass by, and eventually that "feeling" of peace and joy that I so strongly had in the first few months after my acceptance - gently waned over time. I earnestly continued in my efforts to read my bible and attend church as often as I could over the next several years, but one thing led to another and school, music, friends and work eventually won over Jesus being first in my life affairs.
Eventually, as time passed - I graduated from college, landed my first teaching job, got married and then moved to another city and my church attendance and bible reading began to slowly fade away with all the changes in my life...
Several years later I would learn that God was never far away from me, even though my heart had drifted farther and farther away from Him.
That moment when I first accepted Jesus as my savior changed my life in ways I never thought of at the time. The Bible clearly says right there in 2 Corinthians 5:17
"...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Now I know, years later that that moment when I stepped forward during the music and invitation, was my first worship "epiphany." What I did not know at the time, was that it would not be my last - even though it would take nearly eleven years (and more deeply disappointing personal setbacks) before the next one would occur - The amazing thing to me was that Christ was there with me all the time.
Blessings to you,
Dave
One Sunday in May as the pastor was giving his usual "altar-call" something came over me, call it what you will - a voice in my head, the summoning of the spirit or perhaps it was the message that Sunday which laid heavily on my heart - whichever it was - I stood up and walked slowly forward, then gently knelt down on the front steps of the sanctuary. The one single thing I remember the most, was that as I stood up and was walking up to the front of the sanctuary - it was if everything became profoundly silent for what seemed an eternity. It's funny the things that race through your mind at a moment like that. It wasn't scary or anything like that - no, not at all - I felt completely at peace actually... but strangely also felt separated from everything for a while... Even after I was baptised a week or two later - that strange "giddy" feeling lasted for several weeks, maybe even months afterwards. I couldn't explain it. Just a feeling of "joy" and "peace" which I desperately needed at the time and would need in the months that followed as well. (My grandfather would pass away a few months later from prostate cancer just weeks before his 80th birthday... we were close and we lived just a few houses apart)
Time would continue to pass by, and eventually that "feeling" of peace and joy that I so strongly had in the first few months after my acceptance - gently waned over time. I earnestly continued in my efforts to read my bible and attend church as often as I could over the next several years, but one thing led to another and school, music, friends and work eventually won over Jesus being first in my life affairs.
Eventually, as time passed - I graduated from college, landed my first teaching job, got married and then moved to another city and my church attendance and bible reading began to slowly fade away with all the changes in my life...
Several years later I would learn that God was never far away from me, even though my heart had drifted farther and farther away from Him.
That moment when I first accepted Jesus as my savior changed my life in ways I never thought of at the time. The Bible clearly says right there in 2 Corinthians 5:17
"...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
Now I know, years later that that moment when I stepped forward during the music and invitation, was my first worship "epiphany." What I did not know at the time, was that it would not be my last - even though it would take nearly eleven years (and more deeply disappointing personal setbacks) before the next one would occur - The amazing thing to me was that Christ was there with me all the time.
Blessings to you,
Dave
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Worship Practice
This is the one area of worship that is most easily neglected by many worship teams and/or worship leaders. When I say it's neglected, I don't mean in the actual time spent in weekly practice, but in the quality of practice and in the "focus" of the practice. A worship team could consist of many different groups; a small praise team or choir, the praise band or orchestra (if your church is large enough) or simply the worship leader alone. Either way, all must spend time in rehearsal. Most worship leaders have several favorite scripture verses that focus on God's desire for worship teams and their leaders to rehearse and be "skilled" in their leading. Here are two of my favorites;
"Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy" (Ps. 33:3 NIV)
and...
"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people" (Col. 3:23 NLT)
Working for the Lord? Never thought of that before I'll bet.
I've just spent the last week reading over several other web pages, books and blogs on worship and rehearsal to get some ideas as to what other worship leaders consider to be important about worship rehearsals and came away with three basic ideas as to what makes up a "quality" worship rehearsal. Most of the articles I've read, focused on the "musicality" aspect of rehearsals; such as - musical theory or vocal techniques etc, which are definitely important don't get me wrong, however there were a few articles I read that focused other "non-musical" aspects that I felt were more important.
1. Make prayer important! Have a designated prayer time.
2. Have a "Plan" for your worship rehearsal time.
3. Start and end on time!
I. "Prayer Time"
Does your worship team begin their rehearsals with prayer? Do they pray for each other? How about prayer during the songs? How about closing in prayer? Each one of these times of prayer has a purpose and serves a powerful function of a well disciplined and skilled worship team.
I have experienced both sides of this one. I've been in worship rehearsals that had very little prayer time built into them and I've been in rehearsals that were "overloaded" with prayer. I'll explain that in a minute. I personally feel that a portion of the rehearsal should be set aside for prayer as this helps the team to bond together in fellowship as well as assisting them to focus on the task at hand. This is where the leadership skills of your worship leader are so important in setting the tone for rehearsals. I remember a comment I heard a few years ago during a worship conference I attended (sorry, I can't remember who it was...) but the worship leader was sharing his thoughts on leading rehearsals and said he always treated rehearsal time as an "off-hour" extension of Sunday mornings regular worship. I like that idea.
II. Have a plan for your rehearsal time.
This might seem like a given to some, but I've experienced rehearsals where there was no real plan for worship rehearsal time and things would easily slip by and time seemed to drag on and on. That is not good. If you or someone you know is a teacher, you know that teacher's have to prepare "lesson-plans" for each day. Now I'm not saying you have to go overboard and make a detailed rehearsal plan - but at least sketch out on a notepad a simple basic plan of what you want to cover for the rehearsal. (I will share examples in another blog later on)
III. Start and End on time.
"Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy" (Ps. 33:3 NIV)
and...
"Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people" (Col. 3:23 NLT)
Working for the Lord? Never thought of that before I'll bet.
I've just spent the last week reading over several other web pages, books and blogs on worship and rehearsal to get some ideas as to what other worship leaders consider to be important about worship rehearsals and came away with three basic ideas as to what makes up a "quality" worship rehearsal. Most of the articles I've read, focused on the "musicality" aspect of rehearsals; such as - musical theory or vocal techniques etc, which are definitely important don't get me wrong, however there were a few articles I read that focused other "non-musical" aspects that I felt were more important.
1. Make prayer important! Have a designated prayer time.
2. Have a "Plan" for your worship rehearsal time.
3. Start and end on time!
I. "Prayer Time"
Does your worship team begin their rehearsals with prayer? Do they pray for each other? How about prayer during the songs? How about closing in prayer? Each one of these times of prayer has a purpose and serves a powerful function of a well disciplined and skilled worship team.
I have experienced both sides of this one. I've been in worship rehearsals that had very little prayer time built into them and I've been in rehearsals that were "overloaded" with prayer. I'll explain that in a minute. I personally feel that a portion of the rehearsal should be set aside for prayer as this helps the team to bond together in fellowship as well as assisting them to focus on the task at hand. This is where the leadership skills of your worship leader are so important in setting the tone for rehearsals. I remember a comment I heard a few years ago during a worship conference I attended (sorry, I can't remember who it was...) but the worship leader was sharing his thoughts on leading rehearsals and said he always treated rehearsal time as an "off-hour" extension of Sunday mornings regular worship. I like that idea.
II. Have a plan for your rehearsal time.
This might seem like a given to some, but I've experienced rehearsals where there was no real plan for worship rehearsal time and things would easily slip by and time seemed to drag on and on. That is not good. If you or someone you know is a teacher, you know that teacher's have to prepare "lesson-plans" for each day. Now I'm not saying you have to go overboard and make a detailed rehearsal plan - but at least sketch out on a notepad a simple basic plan of what you want to cover for the rehearsal. (I will share examples in another blog later on)
III. Start and End on time.
What this boils down to the most is respecting the time commitment that everyone on your team has made to being at rehearsals. Yes, you will have those "dedicated" individuals on your team (Bless their hearts!) who will never complain about going past the end time of rehearsal or putting in extra time to get that song arrangement "just right" for Sunday morning. Nothing can be more frustrating for your team members than to spend a good percentage of the rehearsal time with "chit-chat" or catching up on events of the week, rather than actual practice. Even prayer time, should be kept in check as well. (although, there is much more merit to spending time in prayer - than simply wasting time catching up on the season finale of your favorite TV shows...) Save that for "After-rehearsal" for those who are able to stick around and visit - rather than having to rush off to relieve a baby sitter or spouse from childcare duty.
I hope this gives you some good ideas to consider for your worship rehearsals. Have a great worship this week!
Blessings,
Dave
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Choosing the Music for Sunday Worship
It hard to believe another week has just flown by! My wife and I just completed our first full week of summer vacation and boy are we exhausted! (I'm half kidding, of course!) We live in one of those places people love to come visit from about October through May, but from June until about September they roll up the sidewalks around here and everyone goes underground! You think I'm kidding? It's supposed to reach 110 degrees this next week! Ouch!
Ever so often, someone will come up and ask me how I go about choosing songs for Sunday services. If you're a beginning worship leader, or know someone who is getting started leading worship in a church somewhere in your area, here are a couple of suggestions to help in song selection for Sunday mornings.
1st - I pray about it. Pretty simple huh? But believe me, it helps get your thoughts focused in the right direction at least. (I usually start my planning for Sunday morning services about a week or maybe even two weeks before...)
2nd - Make a list (write it down or type it up) of all the praise/worship/hymn songs you know and can play on your given instrument and the keys y0u sing them in comfortably. The more you lead worship, the better you'll get at this, but start with a list. (do this right now!)
3rd - Make a list of the praise/worship/hymn songs your congregation knows. If your new in the church, ask the pastor or take a survey or both! If you know everyone well and have been leading them for a while, making a list should be easy, however you might still want to do a little survey - you might be surprised at the results you get! (do this ASAP)
4th - Consult with your pastor. This is perhaps the single most crucial part of your "job" and if you know each other it makes planning a whole lot easier - however, if your just starting out at a new church you will want to develop the relationship between you and your pastor. That's about all I will say for now on this - This is a topic that really is a book in itself. (see side note below)
(side note) There is a great book that has been out for a few years titled "The New Worship" by Barry Liesch, and this book covers a lot of this sort of stuff - so go get it if you don't have it and read it! (try Amazon or Barnes and Noble)
5th - "The Nitty Grit"
I have several notebooks of songs in my office that I have collected over the years and organized them alphabetically in three large 3 ring binders. Sometimes, I will just plop myself down on the floor and look through them all! When a song will sometimes "pop" out at me, I pull it out and make a "Must do soon" pile. I like to organize songs this way (but everybody has different ways of doing this so really it's about what works for you) I have a pile of songs for "Openers" a pile for "Go together" and "Closers"
"Openers" - These might be something like - "Forever," "Open the Eyes of My Heart," "Joyful, Joyful, We adore thee," "Come, Now is the Time to Worship" or even "To God Be the Glory" etc.
"Go Together" - These might be; "My Jesus, I Love Thee" and "Here I am to Worship" or "Great is thy Faithfulness" and "Amazing Love (You Are My King)" I usually like to groups certain songs by "Themes" and/or Keys etc. If I start with a song in the key of D, I may keep it there, or if I modulate for the next song, I want it to go smoothly so I might choose a song that is in a "relative" key to D (like G or B minor) or I may go up a step to E. I generally don't like to go down in keys (like D to C) and try to avoid it. Moving upward in keys, helps keep the momentum moving and generally feels smoother in transitions.
"Closers" - These might be; "Higher Ground" "Come Just as You Are" "One Thing" or "Enough" or any song that maybe you feel might add a little extra at the end of your pastor's message - it really all depends on several factors and this is where the "prayer" time I talked about earlier helps you focus on the needs of the day and the calling of the Lord in helping you shape the entire worship service.
Finally and most importantly, keep in mind your congregation (what songs they know or don't know well, their "learning" curve) and what songs you are comfortable with playing and singing with your instrument...
And practice! practice! practice!
Got to run for now (It's practice time for me too now!)
Blessings,
Dave
Ever so often, someone will come up and ask me how I go about choosing songs for Sunday services. If you're a beginning worship leader, or know someone who is getting started leading worship in a church somewhere in your area, here are a couple of suggestions to help in song selection for Sunday mornings.
1st - I pray about it. Pretty simple huh? But believe me, it helps get your thoughts focused in the right direction at least. (I usually start my planning for Sunday morning services about a week or maybe even two weeks before...)
2nd - Make a list (write it down or type it up) of all the praise/worship/hymn songs you know and can play on your given instrument and the keys y0u sing them in comfortably. The more you lead worship, the better you'll get at this, but start with a list. (do this right now!)
3rd - Make a list of the praise/worship/hymn songs your congregation knows. If your new in the church, ask the pastor or take a survey or both! If you know everyone well and have been leading them for a while, making a list should be easy, however you might still want to do a little survey - you might be surprised at the results you get! (do this ASAP)
4th - Consult with your pastor. This is perhaps the single most crucial part of your "job" and if you know each other it makes planning a whole lot easier - however, if your just starting out at a new church you will want to develop the relationship between you and your pastor. That's about all I will say for now on this - This is a topic that really is a book in itself. (see side note below)
(side note) There is a great book that has been out for a few years titled "The New Worship" by Barry Liesch, and this book covers a lot of this sort of stuff - so go get it if you don't have it and read it! (try Amazon or Barnes and Noble)
5th - "The Nitty Grit"
I have several notebooks of songs in my office that I have collected over the years and organized them alphabetically in three large 3 ring binders. Sometimes, I will just plop myself down on the floor and look through them all! When a song will sometimes "pop" out at me, I pull it out and make a "Must do soon" pile. I like to organize songs this way (but everybody has different ways of doing this so really it's about what works for you) I have a pile of songs for "Openers" a pile for "Go together" and "Closers"
"Openers" - These might be something like - "Forever," "Open the Eyes of My Heart," "Joyful, Joyful, We adore thee," "Come, Now is the Time to Worship" or even "To God Be the Glory" etc.
"Go Together" - These might be; "My Jesus, I Love Thee" and "Here I am to Worship" or "Great is thy Faithfulness" and "Amazing Love (You Are My King)" I usually like to groups certain songs by "Themes" and/or Keys etc. If I start with a song in the key of D, I may keep it there, or if I modulate for the next song, I want it to go smoothly so I might choose a song that is in a "relative" key to D (like G or B minor) or I may go up a step to E. I generally don't like to go down in keys (like D to C) and try to avoid it. Moving upward in keys, helps keep the momentum moving and generally feels smoother in transitions.
"Closers" - These might be; "Higher Ground" "Come Just as You Are" "One Thing" or "Enough" or any song that maybe you feel might add a little extra at the end of your pastor's message - it really all depends on several factors and this is where the "prayer" time I talked about earlier helps you focus on the needs of the day and the calling of the Lord in helping you shape the entire worship service.
Finally and most importantly, keep in mind your congregation (what songs they know or don't know well, their "learning" curve) and what songs you are comfortable with playing and singing with your instrument...
And practice! practice! practice!
Got to run for now (It's practice time for me too now!)
Blessings,
Dave
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Singing to God gives you a free "face lift?"
Okay, okay I know what you're thinking... I couldn't believe it either when I first read it myself. But it's right there in the opening line of Psalm 33 verse 1;
"Sing for Joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright." (NIV)
As one reads this passage it would seem that singing makes us beautiful in God's eyes (or "becoming" as the NIV translation reads - and "comely" in the King James) and therefore he looks upon us in a different way - it makes us pure and holy in his eyes... a spiritual "face-lift" you could even say. (Wow, I'll bet if I shared that scripture this week, it might get a few of my folks singing even louder and stronger on Sunday morning don't you think?)
God loves for us to sing to him. God even takes great pleasure in our devotion of singing, so much so, that he leads us by example - In the book of Zephaniah it says - "…He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. "
What, God sings to us? Doesn't that just blow your mind? It's like driving down the freeway and seeing a sign on the side of the road that causes you to do a "double-take." Did I really read that correctly? Could that be true? God loves to sing over us? Absolutely!
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zeph. 3:17 NIV)
There is a song I've been teaching my church to sing the last few months - It's called "Mighty to Save" (Hillsongs)
I recall the line from the bridge of the song that goes like this;
"Shine your light and
let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory
of the risen King"
I guess that really sums it all up right there... the what, how and why we sing on Sunday mornings. We're singing for HIS glory! Now, to be honest with you - you will always have a few "fuddy-duds" who are in your church every week - great and wonderful folks bless their hearts - BUT they are just determined and stubborn to NOT learn any "new songs." (Dealing with them will have to be another future chapter in my blog I suppose!) They will only want to sing the songs "they already know." Some will even refuse to try... (Oh, if they only knew - some of those "old favorite hymns" of theirs are actually HARDER to sing than many of the newer songs and require some rather extraordinary singing skills! - but that's another blog too I suppose!)
Anyway, I tried to "google" and find out just how many times the Bible uses the phrase "Sing a new song" or "Sing unto the Lord a new song" is written and the only number I could find (although I think the actual number has to be higher!) was 61 times. (418 times for the word "Sing" - please let me know if you find a different number...)
God wants us to sing, and He wants us to sing to HIM and to glorify HIM. It makes HIM happy and pleases HIM!
I close with a simple thought to ponder... How would YOU feel as a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother - if your children or grandchildren just suddenly decided to start singing to you for no other reason but just to make you happy? How would you see them? How would they look in YOUR eyes?
Pray about that.
Blessings,
Dave
"Sing for Joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright." (NIV)
As one reads this passage it would seem that singing makes us beautiful in God's eyes (or "becoming" as the NIV translation reads - and "comely" in the King James) and therefore he looks upon us in a different way - it makes us pure and holy in his eyes... a spiritual "face-lift" you could even say. (Wow, I'll bet if I shared that scripture this week, it might get a few of my folks singing even louder and stronger on Sunday morning don't you think?)
God loves for us to sing to him. God even takes great pleasure in our devotion of singing, so much so, that he leads us by example - In the book of Zephaniah it says - "…He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. "
What, God sings to us? Doesn't that just blow your mind? It's like driving down the freeway and seeing a sign on the side of the road that causes you to do a "double-take." Did I really read that correctly? Could that be true? God loves to sing over us? Absolutely!
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (Zeph. 3:17 NIV)
There is a song I've been teaching my church to sing the last few months - It's called "Mighty to Save" (Hillsongs)
I recall the line from the bridge of the song that goes like this;
"Shine your light and
let the whole world see,
We're singing for the glory
of the risen King"
I guess that really sums it all up right there... the what, how and why we sing on Sunday mornings. We're singing for HIS glory! Now, to be honest with you - you will always have a few "fuddy-duds" who are in your church every week - great and wonderful folks bless their hearts - BUT they are just determined and stubborn to NOT learn any "new songs." (Dealing with them will have to be another future chapter in my blog I suppose!) They will only want to sing the songs "they already know." Some will even refuse to try... (Oh, if they only knew - some of those "old favorite hymns" of theirs are actually HARDER to sing than many of the newer songs and require some rather extraordinary singing skills! - but that's another blog too I suppose!)
Anyway, I tried to "google" and find out just how many times the Bible uses the phrase "Sing a new song" or "Sing unto the Lord a new song" is written and the only number I could find (although I think the actual number has to be higher!) was 61 times. (418 times for the word "Sing" - please let me know if you find a different number...)
God wants us to sing, and He wants us to sing to HIM and to glorify HIM. It makes HIM happy and pleases HIM!
I close with a simple thought to ponder... How would YOU feel as a father, mother, grandfather, grandmother - if your children or grandchildren just suddenly decided to start singing to you for no other reason but just to make you happy? How would you see them? How would they look in YOUR eyes?
Pray about that.
Blessings,
Dave
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Molding a worship leader...
There are some people you will meet in your lifetime who seem to have "just the right" mix of qualities to be where they are. In ministry it's referred to as "a calling" - in education it's often looked upon as a "calling" as well. Whether your duty or calling is to be a worship leader, pastor, teacher or office secretary - each requires certain abilities or qualifications to be effective at it. As a full time educator for nearly 25 years, I've served on many committee's charged with putting together evaluative instruments for educators both in music as well as other curricular areas. But when it comes to choosing or evaluating effective worship leaders, they are a "quirky" bunch indeed! I have to laugh at the thought of this... Being involved for so long in music education as well as the music business, I understand too well the mind of musicians. Really... You could write a couple of books on this subject and never really explain it well enough. You'd only scratch the surface! One of my favorite "pop" singers; Billy Joel, makes a comment in one of his music videos about his feeling that most musicians (including himself) are inherently "manic depressive" by nature. It's all in the way musicians minds are hard-wired together (by God of course).
Getting back to the topic now of molding a musician into a worship leader, it will give you great insight into the difficulty of the task when you realize the very nature of how musicians are "hard-wired" by God.
Here are the three common "traits" of most good musicians;
1. They are Creative!
2. They are an Extrovert.
3. They are Egotistical.
Okay, take a good long look at those three traits again... One of those three traits is the one that gives most worship leaders the greatest trouble. It's the trait that runs head-long into what worship is all about, in fact - it runs counter to Christ's very message of servanthood and self-lessness, vs. selfishness. Can you guess which one it is then? That's right, number three - Egotistical. The first two traits generally aren't bad, and in fact - important to have. They can even be positive to have in a worship leader! Creativity can be a positive trait to have in worship planning, inspiration in the use of scriptural ideas and musical skills in combination with each other. An extrovert can be a positive trait to have, in being able to meet new people, build worship teams, and work and minister to others!
But oh boy, when we get to the ego part - yikes! We run into so many problems don't we?
Ego really has no place in worship! None at all.
I'm going to be honest for a moment (really!) - back when I was 21 years old (a few years ago) the world was all about ME. I did some strange things back then to bring attention to myself when I was playing music in public places or well, most anywhere I wanted to impress people. I went through these "phases" you might say. It's kind of funny now to think of it - but I was serious about it then don't you know! Having to have the newest hair styles, the "coolest" hair color (I grew my hair long and had my mom dye my hair "bleach blond" one summer so I would look like a "surfer", had to have the newest clothing styles, had to have just the right brand names on my shirts and pants AND had to have the "coolest" electric guitars and gear to play, not some cheap knock-offs... The list goes on and on! LOL.
The bottom line is - I was a long way from being an effective worship leader back then, I had a lot (a lot!) of molding to go through first! Some people go through traumatic events as young children or teenagers that humble them and tear down and tear away many of the egocentricity's that plague many younger musicians. This explains why so many young rock musicians over the last 50 years have succumbed to drug or sex addictions. It's the ego problem, and getting over that is paramount to growing into an effective worship leader.
Age has absolutely nothing to do with this. I've met many young worship leaders who have absolutely NO ego at all. They are humble before others, confident in Christ and yet have a heart of true servanthood. On the other hand, I've seen older worship leaders who still struggle with this... God molds us all in different ways and in different times it would seem.
It all boils down to getting rid of the childish EGO thing. This is the first step in molding a worship leader (or ANY leader for that matter)
Here is what Paul teaches about this;
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." (1 Cor. 13 TNIV)
Blessings in Christ,
Dave
Getting back to the topic now of molding a musician into a worship leader, it will give you great insight into the difficulty of the task when you realize the very nature of how musicians are "hard-wired" by God.
Here are the three common "traits" of most good musicians;
1. They are Creative!
2. They are an Extrovert.
3. They are Egotistical.
Okay, take a good long look at those three traits again... One of those three traits is the one that gives most worship leaders the greatest trouble. It's the trait that runs head-long into what worship is all about, in fact - it runs counter to Christ's very message of servanthood and self-lessness, vs. selfishness. Can you guess which one it is then? That's right, number three - Egotistical. The first two traits generally aren't bad, and in fact - important to have. They can even be positive to have in a worship leader! Creativity can be a positive trait to have in worship planning, inspiration in the use of scriptural ideas and musical skills in combination with each other. An extrovert can be a positive trait to have, in being able to meet new people, build worship teams, and work and minister to others!
But oh boy, when we get to the ego part - yikes! We run into so many problems don't we?
Ego really has no place in worship! None at all.
I'm going to be honest for a moment (really!) - back when I was 21 years old (a few years ago) the world was all about ME. I did some strange things back then to bring attention to myself when I was playing music in public places or well, most anywhere I wanted to impress people. I went through these "phases" you might say. It's kind of funny now to think of it - but I was serious about it then don't you know! Having to have the newest hair styles, the "coolest" hair color (I grew my hair long and had my mom dye my hair "bleach blond" one summer so I would look like a "surfer", had to have the newest clothing styles, had to have just the right brand names on my shirts and pants AND had to have the "coolest" electric guitars and gear to play, not some cheap knock-offs... The list goes on and on! LOL.
The bottom line is - I was a long way from being an effective worship leader back then, I had a lot (a lot!) of molding to go through first! Some people go through traumatic events as young children or teenagers that humble them and tear down and tear away many of the egocentricity's that plague many younger musicians. This explains why so many young rock musicians over the last 50 years have succumbed to drug or sex addictions. It's the ego problem, and getting over that is paramount to growing into an effective worship leader.
Age has absolutely nothing to do with this. I've met many young worship leaders who have absolutely NO ego at all. They are humble before others, confident in Christ and yet have a heart of true servanthood. On the other hand, I've seen older worship leaders who still struggle with this... God molds us all in different ways and in different times it would seem.
It all boils down to getting rid of the childish EGO thing. This is the first step in molding a worship leader (or ANY leader for that matter)
Here is what Paul teaches about this;
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." (1 Cor. 13 TNIV)
Blessings in Christ,
Dave
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Saturday Night Jitters...
A strange feeling in the pit of my stomach... practicing the songs for Sunday morning over and over trying hard to get every chord, every note - just right! Wondering to myself (and God) did I chose the right songs for Sunday or not? Lord, how will the congregation respond to the music? What will I pray about? Will I even say anything? Should I say anything at all? Will Mr. "B" or Mrs. "W" still give me the same strange look when I start the praise and worship music? Will they decide to even try to learn the songs, after all my noble efforts to sway them in our biblical calling to "sing unto the Lord a NEW song? I pray silently about tomorrow, wondering if Mrs. "G" will once again come up to me Sunday morning (just about 10 minutes before the service begins!) and ask me "so Dave, when are you going to pick some good old hymns for us to sing instead of all these new songs I don't know?" I smile politely, fighting hard the urge to say "It's not about US," quoting from Psalm 118:1 "Not to us O Lord, not to us but to Your name be the Glory..." but calmly I breathe in deep and breath out, give her a gentle hug and say "Mrs. "G" I will pick something special just for you next Sunday! (Even though the service this week is already made up of 2 traditional hymns (contemporized of course!), 1 new praise song and one middle of the roadder... Yes, four songs is about all we can handle right now, but I'm pushing them to add a few more in there over the next year! By the way, here was my worship set last week...
Opening Song - "We Bow Down" - T. Paris's - it's in their hymnal and I like to sing it in Bb (Capo'ed on 3rd fret) rather than D major. D is just a little too high for us to sing comfortably.
Then they usually greet after the opening song...
Worship Set - (2 songs)
"Here I am to Worship" - D - This is the "new" praise song I was speaking of...
"My Jesus, I Love Thee" - D - This is a wonderful "Hymn" that really does blend in well with the newer/contemporary "vertical" worship songs. It was written by a sixteen year old by the way!
"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" - also D. (I just did the chorus of this song right at the end to close the set!) Just sort of sneaked it in there last week!
Then for Special Music, I used the moment to teach them a new song "Love the Lord" by L. Brewster. Had them read the scripture verse before hand (Deut. 6:5) Then played it. Saw one or two of the "younger" kids singing along and moving their heads to the rhythm... That was cool!
And then the fourth song and last song we sing is usually our closing song - I often try to make this a Hymn, but once in a while I shake them up and do something different! Last week we sang "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us"
Now, here it is Saturday evening - and I am once again getting those Saturday Night jitters! Wondering WHY me O God? Why did you choose me for this task? Why here and why now? Lord, I think you must have picked the wrong person for this gig!
Do you ever feel that way? Regardless, we keep on hoping and hoping...
Then I read this passage from Psalms in my Bible...
But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. (Psalm 71:14 NIV)
Well, back I now go to my guitar and piano to practice for tomorrow mornings music.
Blessings to you,
Dave
Opening Song - "We Bow Down" - T. Paris's - it's in their hymnal and I like to sing it in Bb (Capo'ed on 3rd fret) rather than D major. D is just a little too high for us to sing comfortably.
Then they usually greet after the opening song...
Worship Set - (2 songs)
"Here I am to Worship" - D - This is the "new" praise song I was speaking of...
"My Jesus, I Love Thee" - D - This is a wonderful "Hymn" that really does blend in well with the newer/contemporary "vertical" worship songs. It was written by a sixteen year old by the way!
"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" - also D. (I just did the chorus of this song right at the end to close the set!) Just sort of sneaked it in there last week!
Then for Special Music, I used the moment to teach them a new song "Love the Lord" by L. Brewster. Had them read the scripture verse before hand (Deut. 6:5) Then played it. Saw one or two of the "younger" kids singing along and moving their heads to the rhythm... That was cool!
And then the fourth song and last song we sing is usually our closing song - I often try to make this a Hymn, but once in a while I shake them up and do something different! Last week we sang "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us"
Now, here it is Saturday evening - and I am once again getting those Saturday Night jitters! Wondering WHY me O God? Why did you choose me for this task? Why here and why now? Lord, I think you must have picked the wrong person for this gig!
Do you ever feel that way? Regardless, we keep on hoping and hoping...
Then I read this passage from Psalms in my Bible...
But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. (Psalm 71:14 NIV)
Well, back I now go to my guitar and piano to practice for tomorrow mornings music.
Blessings to you,
Dave
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Being bold for Christ...
A humbling experience this afternoon as my wife and I went to a dinner/fundraiser to benefit a young lady from our church family, who has been on a mission in China for the last eight months. Several members stood up and shared from her monthly newsletters that she has sent to us telling of her experiences so far. As I closed my eyes and listened quietly to the stories of her experiences with living in East Asia, the new friendships she has made and the repression of religious freedoms within the government; I realize just how lucky we are here in our country to have the freedoms we have.
We are called by Christ to be BOLD in our faith, here in our own country as well as to the nations of the earth.
"Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among the peoples" (Psalm 96:3)
How challenging it is for us to do that. It isn't easy is it? I've been a public school music teacher for nearly twenty five years now and find that it's been difficult on many occasions to separate my profession of teaching with my "passion" for Christ and ministry to others. It's a fine line to walk. But should I? Should I really be walking that "fine line" as it were - between keeping a line of separation between my profession with my passion?
As I listened to the stories from East Asia of how our young missionaries were asking for prayer for themselves to be able to continue with school over there and not be sent home early (it is the law in some countries over there, that if you are caught proselytizing, you will be sent home!) as well as prayer for those close friendships and bonds that have been formed over there to continue and grow in knowledge and boldness in Christ. I realized just how lucky and "spoiled" we have become with our own freedoms.
I pray for the young missionaries in China, I pray for all missionaries. I pray for You, my church family, my family and myself for boldness in Christ as well as protection. I close with this short verse from Proverbs for you to meditate on...
"The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." (Pr. 29:25)
Blessings,
Dave
We are called by Christ to be BOLD in our faith, here in our own country as well as to the nations of the earth.
"Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among the peoples" (Psalm 96:3)
How challenging it is for us to do that. It isn't easy is it? I've been a public school music teacher for nearly twenty five years now and find that it's been difficult on many occasions to separate my profession of teaching with my "passion" for Christ and ministry to others. It's a fine line to walk. But should I? Should I really be walking that "fine line" as it were - between keeping a line of separation between my profession with my passion?
As I listened to the stories from East Asia of how our young missionaries were asking for prayer for themselves to be able to continue with school over there and not be sent home early (it is the law in some countries over there, that if you are caught proselytizing, you will be sent home!) as well as prayer for those close friendships and bonds that have been formed over there to continue and grow in knowledge and boldness in Christ. I realized just how lucky and "spoiled" we have become with our own freedoms.
I pray for the young missionaries in China, I pray for all missionaries. I pray for You, my church family, my family and myself for boldness in Christ as well as protection. I close with this short verse from Proverbs for you to meditate on...
"The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." (Pr. 29:25)
Blessings,
Dave
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
What is Worship?
Worship 101:
“What is worship?”
I have decided to begin adding a short lesson each month in our church newsletter, this is a copy of that lesson on the nature and biblical foundations of what worship is, both in the musical sense of worship, and our roles as worshippers.
The Webster dictionary defines worship as “reverent honor and homage paid to God…” where the biblical definition of worship goes much deeper and broader than that in defining the true nature of worship.
Are we commanded by God to be worshippers? What does God expect from us in time of worship? Were we made by God to worship Him? Is the only way to worship God, by singing in Church? Who do we sing to during worship time? Whom do we sing for?
Those are all very good questions that every Christian should ask of themselves all the time. You know, I’ve been a Christian for nearly thirty years now, but it’s only been in the last few years, that I’ve grown enough in my journey with Christ - to be able to begin answering those questions myself.
Over the next year, I plan on adding short lessons each month to the newsletter on worship. “Worship 101” I am titling it. I hope you read it, enjoy it and that it helps you grow in your knowledge and relationship with our Lord and savior.
So then, are we commanded to worship God? Well, here is what Jesus said when asked about the most important commandment…
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12: 29-30 NIV)
I leave you with this thought… How marvelous would our Sunday worship be if we all sincerely followed God’s command?
Next month: What does God expect from us as worshippers?
Blessings in Christ,
Dave Farmer
“What is worship?”
I have decided to begin adding a short lesson each month in our church newsletter, this is a copy of that lesson on the nature and biblical foundations of what worship is, both in the musical sense of worship, and our roles as worshippers.
The Webster dictionary defines worship as “reverent honor and homage paid to God…” where the biblical definition of worship goes much deeper and broader than that in defining the true nature of worship.
Are we commanded by God to be worshippers? What does God expect from us in time of worship? Were we made by God to worship Him? Is the only way to worship God, by singing in Church? Who do we sing to during worship time? Whom do we sing for?
Those are all very good questions that every Christian should ask of themselves all the time. You know, I’ve been a Christian for nearly thirty years now, but it’s only been in the last few years, that I’ve grown enough in my journey with Christ - to be able to begin answering those questions myself.
Over the next year, I plan on adding short lessons each month to the newsletter on worship. “Worship 101” I am titling it. I hope you read it, enjoy it and that it helps you grow in your knowledge and relationship with our Lord and savior.
So then, are we commanded to worship God? Well, here is what Jesus said when asked about the most important commandment…
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12: 29-30 NIV)
I leave you with this thought… How marvelous would our Sunday worship be if we all sincerely followed God’s command?
Next month: What does God expect from us as worshippers?
Blessings in Christ,
Dave Farmer
Beginnngs!
Well I actually made the first step in getting this started - my first blog! There is so much to cover in my personal journey as a Christian, a worshipper and as a "worship leader" I hope you enjoy it. As I get used to working with blogspot and setting up the blog - I will begin adding more...
Blessings,
Dave
Blessings,
Dave
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