My Worship Revolution

Hehe.  Apparently my blog is rated PG.  I’m actually a little bummed.  I was hoping for a PG-13.  And the reason for the PG rating?  Apparently the use of the word hell twice and porn once did it.  I’m surprised pissed didn’t show up too.  Then again, maybe that post isn’t on the front page anymore.  Maybe I should check again now that I wrote that.

What’s your blog rated?  Find out here.

HT: Pied Piper

So I was gonna edit more of my talking out of this one, but I decided not to after reading this.  So enjoy my ramblings!  Here’s the set:

There’s a pretty big issue in a number of churches today.  Ive seen it.  I’ve experienced it.  I continue to see others experience it.  It’s called burnout.

Why do I bring this up?  Well, some of you may be familiar with a fellow blogger and author, Anne Jackson.  I recently learned that she is in the process of writing a book titled Mad Church Disease.  And she needs your help!!  Here’s a little bit about her and about the book:

Anne Jackson is a twenty-seven year old writer who lives in the Dallas area with her husband, Chris. Chris and Anne both are on staff at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, Texas. You may have read some of her writings in Relevant Magazine including one of the most discussed articles on their site: Dirty Girls: The New Porn Addicts.

Mad Church Disease is a book which will discuss the epidemic of ministry burnout in today’s contemporary church.  Currently, anonymous surveys are being conducted at MadChurchDisease.com for those who are on church staff, those who are family of church staff, and those who are volunteers.

By analyzing these surveys, as well as conducting interviews with pastors, families, and volunteers world-wide, Anne hopes to bring this touchy subject to light using real-life stories of not only tragedy, but redemption and healing for those who have been affected by this disease.

So that is where you come into play.  Apparently there has been little to no research done on the effects of burnout do to ministry among staff and/or volunteers.  So Anne will be  conducting anonymous surveys over the next month to learn more.  She is hoping to get at least 5000 responses in an effort to get the best cross section possible.

So please take a few minutes of your time, check out the survey and help her out!  I too am excited to hear the results of these surveys and am looking forward to the info that will be in this book.

And the last thing you can do to help.  Send other people over!  Send e-mails to your contacts asking them to check it out.  Blogger?  Post it.  Add a graphic to your sidebar.  You can get them here.

So I’m gonna go now and take a survey to help out.  Anyone else?

Clearly it’s been a busy week, and I don’t have time to weigh and update this week.  Besides, the eating hasn’t been so great with the conference and all, so I could use a couple days to get back on track.

So instead of a weight loss update, I thought it would be a good time to remind myself and all of you why we chose to do this weight loss deal the way we did.  To be reminded of the "Invisible Children" in Northern Uganda that we are trying to raise money for by asking you to sponsor us.

Here’s a recap of a recent event Invisible Children held to raise awareness of the displaced citizens of Uganda.  Please do me a favor.  Take 4 minutes and watch this video.  And if you feel so inclined to join in this small attempt to make a bit of a difference, feel free to click the link below and join us.  Let’s try to do a small part in helping to end a war.  Thanks.

                            Make A Pledge – Make A Difference

We’re sittin in the freeway (moving slowly) on our way North from Saddleback.  I’m online via my phone as a modem via bluetooth and sharing my connection with David in the backseat via airport, powering my Mac via power converter plugged into lighter outlet and powering my phone via USB cable.  I love modern technology.

Not a ton to say about today.  Mostly cause we chose to sleep in and miss the first general session.  we  But
made sure to get there by 11am to see Phil Wickham.  I had never heard Phil before.  He is amazing!  Great singer.  Great songwriter.  Great worship leader.

Met up with some worship leader friends from Life Church in Temecula and Tides in Lake Elsinore who drove out to connect for lunch.  It was fun catchin up and talking worship and theology.

Caught a quick session this afternoon on multi-sensory worship led by Greg Atkinson.  I’ve read a lot of his stuff at Monday Morning Insight and listened to his Creative Synergy podcast a few times.  It was basically a brainstorming session on ways to creatively engage each of the senses in our worship experiences.

Skipped out of that a few minutes early so we could hit the road, skipping the rest of the day with a LONG drive ahead of us.  Hopefully I’ll roll into San Jose around 11 or 11:30pm, and then it’s into a long weekend of catching up on work tomorrow!

I took some video footage the last couple days.  We’ll see if I get the time to throw it together.

Most of you know I used to be a singing, dancing dwarf at Disneyland.  (Not the ones in the big headed costumes.)  Anyway, if you know me well, <charlie garrison>, you love to make fun of me and call me short.  If you only know me through my blog, you may be thinking, "well, he doesn’t really look that short."  (I was tied for the tallest dwarf in the cast, by the way.)

Well yesterday I met another blog friend over lunch here at Saddleback. Victor Estrada from The Wonderful Noise.  If you doubted before, I think this picture says it all:

And I didn’t get the memo about the brown, striped, collar shirt.

After lunch a great lunch with The Wonderful Noise (great time hangin with ya Victor!) I headed off to a breakout on leading in a multi-generational context.  That’s a new challenge for me at my new church, and one I must admit I’m not so sensitive or considerate of.  i thought it might be interesting to hear what this session has to say.  I was wrong.  Win some, lose some I guess.

So then we bailed on the second session for dinner at an Italian restaurant wit some other leaders from North Coast Church in Vista and Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells (out near Palm desert area).  Great conversation over dinner and some really good food!  Here’s some pics:

Those baked artichoke hearts aint gonna treat me so well on the scale!

I love hangin with guys who are out of my league!  Sitting next to three guys from huge churches, all in the thousands, hearing their struggles and discussing philosophies of worship and ministry.  Awesome!  Truth is, my conversations at lunches and dinners have probably been way more beneficial than any of the breakouts.

Unfortunately, I think I may have become a bit cynical when it comes to the teaching and what not at these conferences as I’ve gotten older.  Sometimes that can be good, and other times not so much.  But I’d say the teachings actually aren’t one of the top reasons I come to these at all.  The best things about a conference like this:  1) Networking and 2) worshiping.  As much as I definitely worship when I lead, it’s nice to relax and be led by some of the best.

Then, last night was the concert with Vicki Beeching and Lincoln Brewster (and some other guy – eh).

Vicki Beeching – Never heard much of her stuff before.  Man, she is a GREAT worship leader!  I loves listening to her and worshiping with her.  And like Lincoln said, there seems to be a greater anointing on those English accents!

Lincoln Brewster – Basically, this could be the number one reason I was excited about this conference.  He has been one of my faves for a while now, and I had yet to see him live.  Amazing.  The guy shreds on that axe!  And I really liked him, his heart, and the things he shared as well.  Loved it.

Had a great dialogue afterward about whether or not the amount of lead solos were distracting to the worship environment.  While I loved them, and truly feel like they even enhanced my worship experience, I recognize that come could have the opposite reaction at something like this.  Ultimately, the conversation ended on a great check for each of us in checking our own motives when we lead.   Sometimes, we use our gifts and our motives are pure in wanting to direct people’s attention to God’s throne, and other times we can use our gifts in the same way, but with a motivation to draw attention to us.  I know I don’t always do well with that one.  Good reminder.

Another great day.

A few days late, being at the conference and all, but here it is!

Well, after a late night, we accidentally slept in a little.  Oh well.  We really wanted to make it for Erwin McManus and we got here just in time!  He was here along with some of the arts team from Mosaic.

They were sic!  It was a very creative message with lots of drama, dance, and comedy in the mix.  A great example I thought of what Randy talked about yesterday about our age of "byte-sized entertainment."  And I aint gonna lie.  I have a few sides to me that I am always trying to blend and reconcile.  There’s Bobby the pastor/minister, and Bobby the performer.  I don’t think the two have to be mutually exclusive, but it’s tough.  And any time I see a really good theatrical presentation, I start to really have a deep hunger for the stage again.  Dance.  Acting.  Art.  So yeah, that in and of itself gave me a lot to think about.

Erwin has his kinda overall theme that I think defines him as do a lot of the well-known pastors and leaders.  his?  Dreaming God-sized dreams and living that out.  He talked a lot about that today.  It was amazing, and the performing of "Scribble" really helped put a different spin on it and really encourage.  Here’s a few quick quotes that really resonated:

• "When we were born, none of us were an “ordinary” child.  Just ask your parents.  But there are a lot of ordinary people in the world today.  What happened?"
• “Some are born great, some attain greatness, and for some others greatness is thrust upon them.”
  -Shakespeare
• What if the power of the Gospel isn’t to save us from hell?  What if the power of the Gospel is to shape us into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ so we can live a life far beyond our wildest dreams.

Big Idea:  It was kinda 2 fold.

1. God has put a hunger in you to be great.  He has thrust greatness upon you in his son, Jesus Christ.  Now go be great.
2. In Christianity we often use the idea of "nothing new under the sun" to allow us to refrain from creating or reject anything that seems new.  But God is still creating and he says in Isaiah that new shall come.  We should use the beauty and intricacy of art and beauty to share God’s truth in fresh and relevant ways.

Afterward I was able to connect with David Arcos, the Creative Director at Mosaic who I know from connecting with several times in the past.  A while back I was a youth pastor at his father-in-law’s church, and since then I’ve been able to reconnect with him and learn some great stuff from Mosaic’s arts ministries.

Now I’m listening to some amazing, jazzy instrumental music from Abe Laboriel and friends before bailing to meet up with Victor Estrada for some lunch.

I’m wiped.  Did a few sessions this afternoon and then a concert tonight with Saddleback youth band, Jonathon Butler, and Tommy Walker.  I’ll just share a few quick highs and lows from the second half the day before I crash:

Highs

• Session with Tommy Walker and his pastor.  Great ministry relationship goin on there.
• A good quote from Tommy’s pastor: "You can hire the best musicians and the best bands and it won’t matter.  If you don’t have a pastor that is a reckless worshiper, it won’t work."
• Talking about our cultures tendency to "byte size entertainment" (2 minute You Tube videos etc.) and how it transfers over into our worship services.
• Jonathon Butler’s band and his sining.  Good stuff.
• The youth band had some energetic and quality worship.
• Tommy Walker – good worship leader.  Choir was kinda cool too.
• Seeing multiple friends and acquaintances.

Lows

• Architectural Design for Intimacy in Worship session.  Not what I expected.  I left to join Randy’s much better session.
• Being led in Blessed Be Your Name (a song I love…or used to) 3 times in one day.
• Tommy Walker – not so much my style.  A bit "Happy Clappy" is the term I think we labeled him.  Great for a large portion of the audience though.
• The night concert running like an hour or more late.  We left early, so not sure exactly how long over it went.