My Worship Revolution

I had what I thought was an interesting e mail when I returned home from vacation.  Actually, I guess it was 2 e mails from one person.  This person e mailed me as a Christian wanting some info about our church, finding out when we had some events that they could visit.  If you e-mailed me while I was gone, you know that you received an auto response to inform you that I was out of town and would be unable to check e mail.  Well, this person then responded to that e mail…here’s what it said:

That’s okay. 2 Mormon missionaires are at the door and they seem sort of nice. I’ll talk to them and get back to you .
Enjoy your time off as the flock wanders.

I guess I had better not take any more vacations, eh?  I’m actually still not sure whether this was a joke, or someone who really thinks that anyone in ministry shouldn’t get a vacation.  I always hope though that my ministry is not dependant on me.  I want to trust more that God is ultimately in charge…and at times that’s easier to remember than it sounds.  I still have a lot of room to do better, but I also hope that a majority of my ministry can be focused on empowering others to serve God effectively…working myself out of a job I guess you could say.  That should give me some good goals to aim for in 2006.  Hopefully this person will still visit our community or find another one where they feel comfortable.

Awhile back, Rachel and I went to the Aquarium where we saw a SCUBA diver feeding the fish. Rachel commented that it would be cool to do, so at that point I decided that we had to hit up Catalina and try it sometime. So this morning was spent underwater.
Now I have a bad habit of wanting to pick up every hobby I try, but it really was amazing. We did an introductory dive on the coast of Catalina at a dive park. At first it was a bit odd. It’s hard to breathe and my body was telling me that it’s not supposed to be submerged completely for prolonged amounts of time. But as time went on, I got used to it. Then we were able to let go of the buoy rope and the instructor led us through forests of kelp with tons of fish and sea life swimming all around us. This site is the dive shop we went with and gives you a small idea what it’s like.

WOW! It was such an amazing experience. Rachel commented that it really is like being in a whole different world. God’s creation is so amazing. For me it was so peaceful and everything around seemed so majectic. We saw an octopus hiding in a hole, I touched a cool looking bottom fish (kinda like a halibut), and the color and size of some of the other fish was amazing.

I came away with two thoughts:
1) God is an amazing creator. The diversity and amount of life in that small area at the depth of 40 feet was unbelievable. I can’t even imagine the expanse of the rest of the ocean that covers a majority of the Earth.
2) I gotta get certified and do this more often! Somehow, I don’t think Rachel will be a big fan of that one. Maybe someday. I guess I’ll just put it on the list along with rock climbing and skydiving. Hey, if I ever win the lottery (if I ever start playing the lottery) I’ll have plenty of hobbies and certifications to use the money on!

Haven’t done much blogging at all this month. To be honest, it’s been a pretty rough month, but I’m looking forward to the new year. Immediately after Christmas Eve service Rachel and I left for San Diego to spend Christmas day with my family. We had a great time having our traditional Christmas breakfast and then opening gifts with my family.

That evening we went up to Big Bear to spend the next day or so with Rachel’s family. The day after Christmas served as the first day of snowboarding for the season. Unfortunately, there has been NO snow, so it was all man made. Not as bad as I was afraid it might be, though. Also, unfortunately, my body pretty much shut down after Christmas Eve and I was feeling pretty sick, so snow probably wasn’t the wisest remedy. It was a great time though and again enjoyed opening gifts again.

Finally we left Big Bear for Long Beach on Tuesday so that Rachel and I could leave for Catalina to get away on our own for a few days. That’s when I got a nice welcome home surprise. Some of you may remember when I first started blogging, I posted about my Jeep getting hit while parked on the street in front of our place. Well, in the hour I had before we left, I went to move my truck from the same spot my Jeep had been parked 8 months before, and you guessed it… hit again. The damage isn’t quite as bad, but then again, it’s a bigger truck. The car that hit me was apparently totaled. It crunched the back left side of the truck and pushed me ino the car ahead to add some nice front end damage.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little with the irony of the whole situation. So I moved the truck and took off for Catalina. I’ll deal with it when I get home.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and are ready for a Happy New Year. Hopefully as I get myself back together, I can start blogging a little more regularly again.

I’ve been pretty slim on the blogging time lately. Truth be told, been pretty low on time, period. It’s that time of year again and we have our Christmas Outreach – $1 Christmas – coming up this Friday and Saturday night at Revolution church. There’s so much to do this week to see it all come together! Really don’t have the time to be doing this, but I figured I should throw up a quick explanation of the lack of activity here.

I am looking forward to getting this thing up and running, though. It’s a lot of work and stress at times, but overall it is so much more fun than just doing the same old thing and i can’t wait to see how God uses us to reach people this year. There are lots of other people working hard on it too and I am so thankful for all of you who are helping to make this happen!

Anyway, this will probably be a pretty idle site for another week or two. Hopefully you can all come join us on Friday and Saturday at 6 & 8 pm both nights. See ya there!!

This morning Rachel and I are heading out to Yorba Linda for day 2 on the 2nd annual Multiplying Church Summit with Multiplying Church Network. Yesterday was a great day of participating in two round table discussions:

1) Issues in Daughtering Churches

2) Assesing Church Planters and Teams

I’ll throw up some of my notes and thoughts when I find some time.

It was a fun day of hanging whith a bunch of men and women with a similar passion and learning from all of their experiences together. Afterward, I went out to dinner with a group of staff from Life Church in Temecula. I’m looking forward to todays session on Developing Leaders. Rachel will be checking out the session on Planting a Praying Church.

In between working on some papers for school this morning, I was on the web and found this interview with Dave Gibbons. If you don’t know who he is, he is the founding pastor of a church in the Irvine area called Newsong. He is a great leader and a pretty amazing visionary. This interview is pretty short, but you gotta check it out. [link]

My favorite part is his answer to the question, “Where do you see yourself in ten years?” It’s just so refreshing to hear about guys who are dreaming God-sized dreams. It really encourages me to think bigger, listen to God more, and trust God more in the places he guides me. I’m reminded again that if my dreams are able to be accomplshed on my own, if they aren’t dreams that seem impossible outside of God’s intervention, then they aren’t big enough!

In the past I’ve always considered how cool it would be to live on a boat, but now I found something better.  I gotta get me one of these.  Anybody got 78 million dollars I can borrow?  [link]

As Promised, here’s a few photos from Will and 1 from Rick Bambrick (I’m sure you’ll never guess which one!) from Bug-a-Boo. Enjoy!

The main stage where we showed Monsters Inc.

The Dickson life group Carvival Belly Button Super Soaker game booth.

Yeah, yeah, yeah…the winning life group.

Our life groups Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

C’mon Darrenn! Shoot those marshmallows through his hands for a free t shirt. You can do it!!

Our life group! (Except for a few people who either couldn’t make it or couldn’t stay til the end.)

Found this article on MMIBlog. It’s a glossary of worship terms written out in a blog by a worship pastor named Phil Christensen. There is some pretty funny stuff in there, and a lot of it cause many of us have been there and know what he’s talking about. Enjoy!

A new worship team member once confided to me that she felt like a stranger in a strange land. “Learning these songs is easy,” she said, “but I think I need a translator to help me understand all the jargon!”

What “jargon?” I had just told her that the chord chart was in Dog, but we’d be starting in Cat, so she should hold back her groove until the transpo. I asked her to open her voicings and get ready to skate over the signature at the end while we resolved into the target key of the next tune of the ballad salad.

It seemed plain enough to me. Don’t people speak English anymore?
Loving shepherd that I am, though, I started a glossary to help her and others. Unfortunately, laughter kept overtaking me and I was forced to shelve the project.

So no, Family Christian Bookstores will probably never feature a Worship Team Dictionary. But all this reminds me that the same words that that might confuse people can also provide some interesting insights about the nature of our work. As you read the following, some of the definitions may resonate with you. Some are fun. Some are intended to provoke a bit of thought. Certainly, none are meant to hurt any feelings, so please receive them in the spirit offered.

And if I should fail to land in the pocket, I hope you’ll just vamp with me until we get to the turnaround….

• ALTOS and BARITONES: (ahl-toez and behr-i-toenz) People who complain that the songs are too high until they learn to harmonize.
• BALLAD SALAD: (ba’-lud sa’-lud) A worship set of quiet songs intended to foster a gentle flow of worship and meaningful encounter with the Lord. The Ballad Salad generally follows the up-tempo moments of celebration (see also Rocking the Flock).
• BIG KAHUNA: (beeg’ kah-hoo’-nah) Lead Pastor whom God has placed in authority over you. Honor this man. Submit to him graciously unless he asks you to break one of the 10 Commandments.
• BLACK HOLES: (blak-hoelz) The dark vacuum around people in the congregation who steadfastly refuse to connect with God during worship. Sometimes accompanied by contemptuous facial expressions. If you can intercede for these individuals during worship, do so, but otherwise avert your attention to avoid being sucked into their gravitational pull. (See also Super Novas)
• BLANDED WORSHIP: (bland’-dud wur-ship’) The uninspired result that comes when we approach corporate worship with the pathetic goal of avoiding any criticism.
• BLENDED WORSHIP: (blend’-dud wur-ship’) The astonishing result of a tapestry of praise that’s been skillfully and lovingly woven together with worship ideas from the past and present. “All Creatures of Our God and King” can flow seamlessly into “Here I Am to Worship.”
• CHECK UP FROM THE NECK UP: (chek’-uhp fruhm thuh nek’ uhp) Important moment during rehearsal when we lower our boundaries and get honest about how we’re really doing. Often involves prayer and teaching. (See also The Hot Seat).
• CHOIR: (kwy’-ehr) A disciplined group of singers who sacrifice untold hours away from home to master the intricate details of a three-minute choral arrangement. Their performance is intended to delight and inspire a room full of listeners who, statistically, will never purchase a recording of choral music.
• CHORD CHART: (kord’-chart) A document that contains lyrics and a few vague musical suggestions. May or may not indicate the proper key, time signature or even exact moment of the chord change, but it does give musicians something to look at while the song goes by. Particularly frustrating to pianists, who prefer being told exactly what to do. Ideal for guitarists. (See also Sheet Music)
• DRUMMERS: (Druhm-merz) Terrific people who worship God by hitting things. Churches often keep them in Plexiglas cages.
• EARLY SERVICE: (ur-lee’ surv-us’) A service in which attendees may appear zombie-like. While unnerving to worship leaders and teaching pastors alike, the event is generally harmless.
• FRISBEE STYLE: A deliberate approach to worship leading in which the leader’s role is “handed off” from song to song. A good way to mentor new worship leaders.
• GROOVE AND FLOURISH: (Gruev and flehr-ish’) The mark of a good musician interacting with other players. His or her part should land subtly in the pocket, submitting to other musicians; this is “groove.” “Flourishing” occurs when a player discovers the perfect moment to emerge from the groove with a few cool, inspiring licks.
• HAND-BURGER: (hand-ber-ger’) The painful result of carrying musical gear through a narrow doorway and not paying attention.
• HOT SEAT: A chair placed in the center of the room for a member of the worship team who needs prayer; the rest of the team gathers around and ministers to them. (See also Check up from the neck up.)
• HUMILITY: (hew-mil-ih-tee’) The beautiful quality in a talented artist of considering others more important than him or herself. Closely associated with servanthood. Rare.
• HYMNS: (himz) Historic praise music. Usually boiled down to 4-part arrangements on a single page with normal rhythmic flow extracted. Lyrics are often stunning, and many of the melodies are almost as powerful as the timeless truths they carry. These songs are infused with the heart-cry of a billion Saints and should be treated accordingly. Ignore at your own loss.
• IN THE POCKET: (in thuh paw-kett’). The subtle groove created by mutually submitted musicians.
• OPEN/ROOTLESS VOICINGS: A stylistic practice of both guitarists and keyboardists in which primary notes of a triad are substituted or dropped altogether to create versatile textures. Can be puzzling to newbies who briefly wonder why a C chord would contain only a D and a G.
• ROCKING THE FLOCK: (Raw-keeng’ thu flawk) The effect of an up-tempo praise song on God’s people.
• SEVEN-ELEVEN MUSIC: (7-11 mew’-sik) Praise songs that repeat the same seven words eleven times, or some similar configuration. These are generally enjoyed by youth, but annoying to older adults.
• SHEET MUSIC: (sheet mew’-sik) A document containing detailed instructions for a musical arrangement. Perfect for keyboardists. Particularly frustrating for guitarists, who 1) hate to be told what to do and 2) usually can’t read it anyway. (See also Chord Charts)
• SIGNATURE: (Sig-nuh’-chur) A musical phrase that helps define or set up a song, most often heard in the introduction. Well-known signatures include the opening 6 piano notes of “Shout to the Lord.” The signature often forms the “turn-around” for the piece and the closing notes, as well.
• SUPER NOVAS: (soo’-pehr noe-vuz’) People in the congregation who visibly connect with God during the worship events. Not a dependable indicator of their maturity, but impossible to miss and a joy to observe. (See also Black Holes)
• THE THRONE-ZONE: (Throewn-zoewn) The place we’ll spend eternity, and therefore the place we should spend every possible moment on planet earth right now.
• VIBRATO: (Vi’-brah-toe) A technique used by singers to help hide pitch problems.

Phil Christensen is worship pastor at Cedar Hills Evangelical Free Church (CHEF) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is married to Mitzi, the Beauty Queen, and is father of four great kids. Phil has served as a worship development missionary in the Pacific Northwest and is co-author of two books for Kregal Publishing. You can reach him via email at philc@chefc.com.