My Worship Revolution

Just an interesting video online here. I’ll refrain from any comments and let you form your own opinion.

Watch “Christian Anthem”

It’s that time again. Around rolls another year of VBS and it’s time for Bobby and Dave to get dressed up and entertain the kiddies! Doesn’t every worship leader/pastor team do this? So this year the theme is Summer Safari and that makes me Safari Sam, animal photographer out to get some good shots. And yes, that is Dave in a pink gorilla suit to lure animals out to get their pictures (he took off the head at this point). It takes a real man to wear pink.

We had a blast singing some Summer Safari songs with them as well as Peace Like A River and, of course, the infamous Banana Song. It was a great morning with almost 100 kids showing up and there’s sure to be more who will sign up tomorrow. Check out more pictures from the first day of Summer Safari!

I spent Wed. – Fri. down at Newport Dunes for Soul Survivor’s worship conference – Momentum. They ended up making it a free event, so Rachel and I took advantage of the opportunity and spent the three days camping on the beach down there. Throughout the three days there were times of worship led by Tim Hughes, Rita Springer, and David Ruiz and some teaching by Mike Pilavachi (one of my personal favorites) and several others. Unfortunately I didn’t have wireless access to blog as I was there, so i’ll throw up some of my notes and thoughts in retrospect right now.

Overall, it was a great time. As I said, Rachel came with me and one member of our team, Michelle, was there as well. I hope in the future to see more team members at stuff like this because the encouragement and the learnings are just great. The best part of the weekend was definately the worship itself. Tim Hughes especially is an amazing leader, and there is nothing like worshipping with hundreds of people who are really passionate about worship. The main sessions were ok – depending on who was sharing – and there were some useful lab intensives. Here’s a couple of highlights and learnings from the trip.

Momentum Day 1

To be honest, the opening session didn’t excite me too much, so I was a bit concerned about how the week would be, but the rest of the day went great!

Missional Hospitality

We started at a session called "Missional Hospitality" led by Greg Russinger from The Bridge Community. He is the pastor of a very artistic community of faith in Ventura. This lab was very interactive and creative and had some great stuff in it. He began by seeking to work on being hospitable before we could get to the missional part. He gave each of us a piece of paper and had us create a picture representing the current state of our heart. From there we had to walk around the tent and get to know each other by our condition.



            

This was a way to encourage us to be real with each other.  Here are some of his other key points that I enjoyed.

• Your Churches should be made up of naked people – We need to be a community of people open and honest with each other.
• Those who live in their condition always bring us to the throne room of God.
• Your conditions will lead one another to Christ.
• We need to truly see people – when you look at others do you really see them through Chrsits eyes and see their humanity.
• The Gospel is centered in the humanity of real people at real times with real emotions.
• Just as Christ took the blind man out of his familiar area to heal him, so Christ will often take us outside of our familiarity in order to see more clearly and better "see" people.

     Main Session

Wed. evenings main session was particularly moving and powerful for me.  Tim Hughes led worship and Mike Pilavachi spoke on the topic of walking by faith.

• Mark 2 – The Paralytic.  Christ knew the men’s faith by the whole in the ceiling.
• Faith is a doing work – it is lived out through actions.
• Romans 10:17 – When we’re in the world more than the word, we begin believing the world rather than the word.
• If we want God to speak to us, we need to listen and be ready to obey no matter what he may ask.
• Faith is obedience.

The night was filled with some amazing worship time, and Mike allowed for some serious time of ministry and invitation to the Holy Spirit.  I must say, I have had some great encounters with God and with the Spirit, but i experienced the Holy Spirit on Wednesday night in a way that i never have before.  I felt so immersed and so overtaken and I know it is something that will effect my worship life forever.

Momentum Day 2

     Leading Ministry Times in Church

This session with Hughes and Pilavachi was specifically aimed at leading times of ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.  They began by sharing some great insight and thoughts on the topic and then opened it up to questions.  It was great to hear answers to practical questions from how to lead a band in a way to allow space for God to work to working together as a pastor and worship leader.  Here were some key points that were made.

• Make space and WAIT – invite God’s presence in, and then wait for Him to lead.
• In waiting, when it get’s really really uncomfortable, sometimes you need to wait a little longer.
• Don’t be afraid of allowing people to cry.  If you can’t bleed in a hospital, then where can you bleed; and if you can’t cry in a church, where can you cry.
• Pastors and leaders – sometimes if you want to allow these times, you have to stop being such a control freak.
• The only way to get it right is to give yourself and others permission to get it wrong.

As I said, Tim also shared some great tips on the leading of the band as well.  To be honest, the best thing I took out of this was feeling really good about my relationship with Dave and how we work together in ministry.  I am so blessed to do this stuff with a friend and a pastor who who is flexible, supportive, and encouraging.  So many others are on different pages with their lead pastors, and its great to know that Dave and I are together in this thing. 

     Acoustic Worship and Cafe Theology

Thursday night after the main session we spent time at acoustic worship with Tim Hughes.  More great worship.  Enough said.  Afterwards, we spent some time at a venue called "Cafe Theology" where we hung out for a late night discussion around tables with Paul Martin and Todd Hunter.  The topics ranged from effective friendship evangelism to postmadern ministry to the churches current emphasis on musical worship and whether it was healthy or unhealthy.  It is always interesting to hear the questions that people have and to hear other peoples thoughts and opinions.

Momentum Day 3

     Beyond Decoration: Art and the Christian Artist

This was a session exploring several aspects of art and the artists in the local church.  Some of the topics of discussion were:

• Engaging Culture – What is "culture?"  What do we mean by "engage?"
• Defining "Christian Artist" – How does one reconcile being an artist and a Christian?
• Is art a viable ministry worthy of support?
• Artists purpose – Is an artis’s responsibility to provoke and challenge or edify the body?  Or both?

This session tended to be mostly question and answer and theoretical discussion.  It was pretty clear that most "artists" in the church today tend to march to the beat of a different drummer.  A lot of artists tend to come up against opposition in the local church unless their art contains Christian icons and is always uplifting.  The most useful part of this workshop was toward the end with a short discussion on how art can be encouraged and used in the context of the local church.

     Free Worship Night

The week ended with a night of worship with Tim Hughes and Mike Pilavachi.  Jon and Jenn Gaw joined the three of us that night for a few hours of praise and worship.  Mike spoke this time on falling in love with Jesus and especially with the word of God.  It was a great end for the event.

I definately came away from the three days with some things to think about.  But most of all the time of worship throughout the three days with three seasoned worship leaders was refreshing and a blessing.  I came away feeling great about where I’m at and where we are at as a community.  I recognize that I still have a lot to lear on this journey and I’m in a great place to do it.

As I continue to lead our worship community at Revolution alongside our lead team, every day and every week brings a new set of learnings and growth. Here’s a great article by Phil Christensen that Dave turned me on to about some of the learnings that come from being a lead worshipper. [via]

After interviewing hundreds of psalmists, I can safely say that worship leaders are a special breed. They nurture the souls of sensitive singers, and encourage brusque sound guys to be…less blunt. They see the gifted drummer within a goofy 9-year-old. Worship leaders sharpen their mastery of Scripture and musical chops in the same week. They calmly walk into meetings where they’ll receive near-lethal doses of personal criticism.

Through it all – praise God – these worship leaders will somehow emerge with tender, Davidic hearts. I suspect it’s all part of God’s greater strategy in conforming us to the image of Christ; pressure turns coal into diamonds, and the constant rub of a grain of sand creates a pearl. The unique pressures of a psalmist create a unique kind of perspective and character.

Such “Worship Team Wisdom” probably contains the essence of what we need to know about life; it worked pretty well for King David. Over the years, I’ve repeatedly found myself drawing on principles learned while working with worship teams; I’ll share here my personal top ten bits of Worship Team Wisdom.

There’s only One Person in the audience. There are lots of people out there to please (and some of them are quite insistent). At the end of the day, though, One Person matters most, and His name is Jesus. Seek first His approval. (Mt. 6:33)

Everybody needs to tune to the same pitch. We pass around the tuner every time we gather, and find that this guarantees we’ll be in tune with each other. Similarly, if we’re all in fellowship with God, we’ll also get along together beautifully; our differences simply become rich harmonies. (1 Jn. 1:7)

Sometimes we’re at our best simply because we spent quality time together. An afternoon together as friends can tighten the groove of a bassist and drummer when they play together that evening. God has commanded a blessing when people “dwell together in unity.” (Ps. 133)

All our plans are subject to change. I have yet to experience a worship service, a wedding or a work-week that went exactly as I expected – or wished. Wise people are prepared to bend; they also know that these changes are often directly from the Hand of God. (Pr. 16:9)

How we respond to change is probably more important than whatever we had planned in the first place. When we’re thrown a curve, the way we handle it reveals much – maybe everything – about our character. (Job 1:21)

The song is bigger than the singer. The message we carry is more important than we are. When the cheering masses greeted that donkey at Jerusalem’s gate, he might have felt pretty good about himself, but I doubt he was ever received that way again. Without his Divine Passenger, he was just another donkey. (Jn. 3:30)

The person in charge of your “sound” can help you or destroy you. If your work has to be channeled through someone else, make sure of their competence and character. A lot rides on the shoulders of the middleman. (2 Kg 5:21ff)

We never really leave the platform. The wireless microphone is never truly switched off. Strangers, co-workers, friends and family are observing us every moment of the day. We are – 24/7 – as Paul said, ambassadors for Christ. (2 Co. 5:20)

God often turns our worst mornings into miracles. There are Sundays I step down from the platform thinking I should resign and get a job at Walmart. These are usually the same days someone grabs my hand, and – tearfully – thanks me for leading them into the Presence of God. I don’t know how God transforms my clumsy moments into masterpieces, but I’ve seen Him do it over and over, and not just with music. Trusting that His transforming power is working in us (and often in spite of us) should keep us both humble and confident (Ph. 2:13).

The song might not end exactly as we rehearsed it. Musicians must follow the leader’s cue as he closes a song; life’s that way, too. Sometimes there’s a key change. Sometimes we finish a Cappella. Once in a while, the song even has to be cut off early. Our times are in the skillful hands of the Chief Musician, Whose timing is always perfect. (Jn. 20:22)

As I read through this article, there were some great reminders and some things that I think all of us have learned even in the past few months as our community serves God together. Many of us at Revolution, whether leading the worship, playing an instrument, singing in the choir, or running the sound board, are lead worshippers and can relate to the experiences noted here. This is a geat journey that we are on, and I look forward to many more learnings as it continues.

I got a new site to host my blog! I wanted to make it a little easier for people to be able to find my blog, so with Chris Koble and geekhost as my web hoster (shamless plug: if you need a site go to him!) I finally got it all set up. Obviously it is still available at the old address for those of you who may have bookmarked it already, but for the rest of you it should hopefully be easier to find and share with others. In the near future I hope to add some extra pages with some past videos and stuff, too.

This morning 11 of us met at Starbucks in Seal Beach for the surfing connecting event.  10 guys and one lone lady!  We had a good morning of hanging out and catching some waves together.  It’s been a while since i’ve been out, so I definitely need to make more time this summer to surf, even if that means early mornings which I hate.  If you enjoy surfing and you wanna join in the fun sometime, shoot an e mail over to Tim Lasch so he can let you know when it happens again.  The group usually goes out on the third Saturday of the month and meets at 8ish at Starbucks in Seal Beach.
And now it’s time to do some studying for my most recent class, Research Methods fro the Study and Teaching of Scripture.  I can tell this will be my most challenging class in the program (Vanguard SPS) yet as far as workload as well as just my own understanding of different Bible passages and methods of interpretation.  Then this evening the India team meets to have dinner with Suresh Kumar from Harvest India.  I am really looking forward to that.  Dave shared with me some more info he has learned about our plans for India this August and I am pumped about going.  I’ll be sure to share more as the details come.

Last night our life group got together for a fun evening at the home of Bill and Jennifer Gibb. It was a game night and our first social event as a life group. We had a blast! Lots of games and snacks. I’ve found that game nights tend to be an excuse to be competitve and get fat!
We played Scattegories for a while, then Tanya kicked our butts twice in a row at Apples to Apples (that is one of the greatest games ever) and then we had a little battle of the sexes with a guys vs. girls game of Taboo. The girls pretty much killed us in that one. Here’s a few fun pics from the night…

It was great hangin with our life group. Rachel and I feel so connected to our group and it’s been great to get to know new people and continue to see new people joining us. Anyone who wants to join us, we meet in downtown Long Beach at Pacific and 7th every Tuesday night at 7pm. Email me for more info! If you’re not currently in a Revolution life group, come get plugged in!

Three Trees Theater, a production company based out of ROCKharbor has a musical coming up that looks like it should be pretty cool. It’s called Songs for a New World and it’s a musical about four individuals living in New york City on the day of 9/11. I’ve heard the recording of the music from an original production of this show and it was really good. I look forward to checking it out some weekend between July 8th and July 23rd. Check out this flyer to get more info.

So I’m sitting here in our luxury single-wide office at Revolution Church today when the whole thing starts creekin and shaking. Must have gone for like 20 seconds. After a little bit of online research I find out it was a 5.3 earthquake centered in Yukaipa. It’s been a while since I felt one that strong.

That’s the third one in the area in four days I guess. I felt the one Sunday before service too. I thought someone had bumped my chair. Kinda crazy!

This past Wednesday was my 26th birthday. Since I spent that whole day working, Rachel and I spent Saturday together to celebrate. She took me out to dinner that night at Belmont Brewing Company in Belmont Shore. She treated me to Filet Mignon and man was it good. I love steak!

Before that, though, we spent the afternoon at the Long Beach Aquarium. It was my first visit there, and it was really pretty cool to check out all the animals. I have always been kind of fascinated by marine biology I would say. We had a great time checking out sharks, petting sting rays, and even seeing some Hawaiian dancers and stuff who were there for the Pacific Island festival. As we were walking through the tropical fish section, looking at the sea life of Palau, we had the privilege of coming across their biggest tank there just as it was feeding time. If you’ve never been around for that before, the diver in the tank has a microphone and shares all about the fish with the help of a staff member near you as he’s feeding the fish. Tons of fish came out to eat and they were all over the place! Not only that, but it was amazing to see in a matter of minutes how much more vibrant some of the fishes colors were when they were eating.

Above all, I think Rachel and I both came away with a sense of what an amazing creator God is. She looked at some of the fish there and just said, “What in the world was God thinking?” Like this Leafy Seadragon:


I mean come on! That doesn’t look like an animal! It like a plant with eyes or something! Or Jellyfish. I would look at them in complete amazement as to how their bodies even function. What is so overwhelming is the number of different creatures God came up with. It is a reminder to me of how awesome God is and how much bigger He is than me. He is so creative and made so many amzing things, yet he chooses to care about us above it all. He gave us a soul and the ability to return love to Him. I love the lyrics to Indescribable by Chris Tomlin.

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea / Creation’s revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring / Every creature unique in the song that it sings / All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name / You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable, Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim / You are amazing God

Between attending Creation on Friday night and then seeing all that on Saturday, it really does make me want to fall to my knees as the song says and just praise God for how awesome He is. Psalm 148:1-7 says:

Hallelujah! Praise GOD from heaven, praise him from the mountaintops;
Praise him, all you his angels, praise him, all you his warriors,
Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, you morning stars;
Praise him, high heaven, praise him, heavenly rain clouds;
Praise, oh let them praise the name of GOD- He spoke the word, and there they were!

He set them in place from all time to eternity;
He gave his orders, and that’s it!
Praise GOD from earth, you sea dragons, you fathomless ocean deeps

Have you taken time lately to just stop and thank God for all that He created? When I take the time to ponder the scope of all that He is and all that He’s done, I can’t help but be blown away!