Intentional Transformation

Are we being innovative or imitative?

2008-09-25T10:11:00.002-05:00

Go here and read these two articles and ask are we innovative or imitative?

http://www.collidemagazine.com/article/126/innovation-is-easier-and-harder-than-you-think

http://outreachmagazine.com/library/features/jf07ftrmostinnovativechurch.asp

We are in a great place with some profound freedoms in sharing the gospel.

We are finding that we are not tied to forms and traditions in the way "church" is "done".

So what can we do to share the message of the gospel that will compete with Elle, People, Law and Order, Lost, Newsweek, the inter-web, boredom, apathy, hate, pain, loss, gain, and ___________ (fill in the blank)?

If we came in one day and fired ourselves and promptly walked back in as the 'new guard', what would we do different?

Why aren't we doing that now?

The one with no answers,

LM

Awesome Resource

2008-09-12T09:25:00.002-05:00

http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/Events/WorshipConference.aspx

This is from the Worship God Conference from just a couple of months ago.

Awesome!!! What an amazing gift from these guys.

Check it out.

lod

Worship Team Mission Statement

2008-09-03T10:02:00.007-05:00

The Worship Team’s mission is to serve by cultivating a culture of authentic corporate and personal worship in the Northcrest Community Church congregation through acts of service, ministry, and musical excellence.

1. It is not about us. We are already on our journey to become worshippers, which is why we have gravitated to seek an opportunity to serve on this team. It is about the God we serve and his people to whom we minister.

As a worship team, we must have a set of primary goals in order to achieve the vision of the worship ministry. The first is this;

It is not about us.

Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself. "
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.

The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

What does the Parable of the Good Samaritan have to do with worship? Well, just like the in the story, it is a heart issue. The Samaritan did not consider himself, his journey, or his resources helped a man who was in a dire need. He stopped, bandaged his wounds, carried him to a hotel, and paid for his stay. It might be said that the story is not about the Samaritan or the wounded traveler, but it is about the selfless sacrifice. As worship musicians, we must always be thinking about those we encounter on our journey. Do they need to be cared for, bandaged, or put up someplace safe to recover? Do they need a kick in the pants, encouragement, a shoulder, or friend? What needs or desires do we need to put aside in order to be the hands and feet of God as we lead worship.

One of the maddening things about being artist or musician is the constant urge to restate, rephrase, re-craft or recreate the subject of the art. And we must give each other permission to pursue our art both as individuals and as individuals within the group. However, within the freedom to develop our individual or collective art, we must subjugate our own desires as artists to the mission of who we, as a group are trying to reach. When the focus of the artist becomes consistent shameless self-promotion, then the individual has lost sight of group’s first tenet. It is not about us, not about our individual gifts, performance, stage time or role. It is about God, loving Him, and humbly leading His people into a greater knowledge of Him and a deeper relationship with Him.

2. We are called to lead worship but if people do not know where they are going or how they will get there, we are just out for a walk. To communicate what really amounts to only a small fraction of worship, we must model authentic corporate worship from the stage and a have genuine off-stage personal walk with Christ in our everyday lives. We must remember that the microphones are never off. If your day to day does not match up with your hour on stage, then your witness is lost and God is cast in a poor light.

The second primary goal;

There must be no difference between the way we

live our “church” lives and our “regular” lives.

Acts 5:1-10

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.
Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?" "Yes," she said, "that is the price."
Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."
At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

Ananias and Sapphira wanted to play pretend. They wanted to look like all of the other believers who had sacrificed everything they had for the church. They wanted the accolades, the pats on the back, and the “atta-boys” from the apostles and the other believers. They were playing dress-up and their “regular” lives did not match up with their pretend “church” lives and such they paid with those lives. God will not be mocked.

We too must know that as teachers (and lest you believe you are not a teacher, we are teaching the congregation how to worship) we will be judged more harshly (James 3:1). And our lives will always be under the microscope. How we deal with each other, how we relate to other members of the body, how we raise our kids, how we react to adversity, how we handle prosperity, and even if we obey the speed limit, everything is being critically scrutinized by those we would presume to lead. And they are searching for the slightest disconnect between what is being modeled and said on stage and how we pursue our daily lives. If we are to maintain our credibility to teach and lead the congregation, our lives outside the church walls must be lived as if we are inside the church walls.

3. We exercise our most public of gifts in a very dangerous place. Rebellion sparked by pride was instigated by the former worship leader of worship leaders and it is easy to fall into the same trap and see our service and ministry confined to 3 hours of practice and 40 minutes of performance. If we turn our backs to needs in our community or church then we become like the Priest and Levite from the Parable of the Good Samaritan and our effectiveness as worship leaders is adversely impacted. And conversely, when the life that is lived matches the life that is professed, the worship of the individual is demonstrated as being authentic, rising from a profound and genuine faith. This is a powerful kind of encouragement to one who might be weaker or younger in their faith will go a great distance in strengthening the observer’s walk with Christ.

The third primary goal is this;

We must be involved in ministries that

are not associated with being on stage.

Amos 5:21-24
"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

This passage from Amos reveals God’s anger at Israel’s treatment of the aliens within their borders, the fatherless and widows. In response to God’s anger, the Israelites turned again and again to God with sacrifices, feasts, songs, and gatherings but they were doing the window dressing of religion with no substance. They got away from what God wants from them and us, which is…

Hosea 6:6
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings.

God wants us to do mercy and walk humbly with Him, and to be His hands and feet here on Earth. Jesus’ ministry was marked by public teachings and feeding of large crowds but beyond his very public ministry, he did ministry both alone and accompanied by the disciples along the roads that he walked daily where he performed private healings, he meet needs of those he met and he performed service to those that were considered outcasts or undesirable such as lepers, the Samaritan Woman, the demon possessed, and the infirmed.

For our purposes as a worship team, secret ministries can be large or small, require daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly attention, and be done with a group or alone. But they do require intentional participation and forethought. Examples of secret ministries are; building maintenance at Northcrest Community Church, small group leadership, facilitating, or hosting, foster care, sanctuary decoration, going to a retirement community to play scrabble or Wii bowling, creative team participation, upkeep on an elderly neighbor’s lawn or home. The bottom line is ministry is intentional and involves anything that meets a spiritual, physical, psychological, or social need and is done in Jesus’ name.

Two last thoughts on service and ministry.

I Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Galatians 5:6b
The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself in love.

As worship team members, we must be at the very minimum available and enthusiastic to join in church or local ministries without being asked or cajoled, however we should be counted as a regular committed participant in a secret ministry. Take the dedication that you have shown to music ministry and share it with a ministry that is starving for champions.

4. Music is fun. Music is really fun when you can count on the people around you to be proficient. In order to be proficient, you must be diligent in your practice. And in order to be diligent in your practice you must be intentional in the way you approach your practice time.
Items that must make into our regularly scheduled practice are; 1) timing, working with a metronome, 2) scales and chords, having the ability to play fluidly through a song, 3) rudiments, having the correct position as you play or sing, and 4) ear training, take a song and figure out the chord changes or melody.

This may all sound a little too close to the nagging you received from your first piano teacher, choir or band director, or mom who complained about the cost of lessons and the racket you made as a neophyte. But in truth, having good practice habits will likely extend your career as a worship musician. For example, having good hand position will reduce the probability of a repetitive stress injury to your wrist. Singing with good posture will reduce the strain on your vocal chords. Working on rudiments will strengthen your muscle memory and allow you to play for longer periods of time without the worry of stressing your body or having a sudden injury. The ear training allows you to become more proficient at your instrument and increases your confidence in your ability to play almost anything that is thrown your way. All of these things add up to a longer and more enjoyable career as an artist to the King.

The fourth primary goal is this;
We must all be dedicated through practice and

diligence to the craft of our art.

Exodus 31:1-11
Then the LORD said to Moses, “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship. Moreover, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to help him. Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you:the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony with the atonement cover on it, and all the other furnishings of the tent- the table and its articles, the pure gold lampstand and all its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, the basin with its stand- and also the woven garments, both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when they serve as priests, and the anointing oil and fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They are to make them just as I commanded you."

Psalm 18:32-35
It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

When the children of Israel were told to construct the tabernacle, craftsmen were selected by God to perform the most intricate and artistic work. These men, whom God said are “filled with the Spirit of God,” were certainly trained by the Egyptians in jewelry making and other fine arts but it was, certainly, the Spirit of God that made their art so exquisite. And in a Psalm of David, he says that God strengthens him and trains his hands for battle. God provided David with the opportunity for training and did not send David out into the fray unprepared. As a shepherd, David was schooled in battle training by defending his sheep from the various wild beasts that would seek to devour Jesse’s herd. I am certain that once you have fought off a couple of lions and bears, then you would find fighting with a man is a walk in the park.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but it is against spiritual forces (Ephesians 6:12) that would seek to destroy us and the church we serve. This battle is no less pitched or important than any battle David was involved in as a warrior or king. So if God chose the artists for his tabernacle and David submitted to God’s training for battle, then how much more should we as worship musicians submit to God’s calling and discipline to train ourselves for spiritual battle.

Further if we have submitted and dedicated ourselves to practice, we will not find ourselves being a distraction to the congregation during worship by making mistakes or playing poorly. And the fruit of that practice is the ability to play more complex pieces and have more fun within the conversation that is music.

If your sacrifice means nothing to you, why do you expect it to mean something to God?

Monday 8/18/08 ---insomnia and Sunday Debrief

2008-08-18T14:26:00.005-05:00

Peaceful sleep is certainly a gift from God. I am mind-numbingly tired so if this post make very little sense... I am sorry.

Sunday...

I am suprised at how many people don't know I Surrender All. That is probably a top 25 all time moldy-oldy. Oh well, it will be new to them.

Our theme for the worship celebration was praising God no matter the circumstances, in rain or shine. The set list was created around Job's example of honoring God in all seasons.

Set List:
Call to Worship: Let the Praises Ring
Thematic Worship: Blessed Be Your Name, I Surrender All, Better is One Day, I Exalt Thee, Rescue
Dismissal: Love the Lord, Your God

I hope that people picked up on the message or at least let it sink in just a little.

Ron did a good job with the sermon. His train fell off the tracks with regard to his notes, but his passion showed through and he kept the thought together of being salt and light. A good lesson for us to hear.

Ali is setting the worship set for this week and she will be leading rehearsal Thursday and Sunday.

If you have time, go to http://www.northcrest.org/ and provide some feedback on the website. What do you like, what do you not like, what is easy to navigate, what is a black hole, how can it be better?

Our next Creative Team Meeting will be 9/13/08 at 10:30, my house. Be watching for me to spam your inbox with an invitation.

Grace and peace,

L

What are we teaching?

2008-07-31T12:40:00.023-05:00

I just read a worship confessional from a worship leader at a mega church. In the blog, he complained that the week leading up to Sunday his prayer life and time with God had not been what it should have been. So in the middle of the service he decided that when it was time to go back up and have the corporate musical worship time again, he would get up and sing a brand new song that was not even out yet. So, basically the congregation nor the band knew the song, but for him it was a time of worship, to be one on one with God and get all of his frustrations out.

So what did the congregation do? Sit and watch him worship? Take a nap? Step out for coffee? Since when has worship become a spectator sport?

It appears to me that it was mighty selfish for the worship leader to say, "Hey, my spiritual week has basically been the pits so I am going to go up and have MY time with God NOW when I am supposed to leading others into His presence". Now I am certain there are people who were able to worship to the song and were touched by the words and his performance, but what was he teaching? That it is ok to just to sit there and have worship spoonfed to you? It is ok that you did not exert any effort at all but you walk away feeling like your worship schooner is full of worshippy goodness?

(Ummm... I would like the David Crowder special with fries and a large orange drink. Hold the cheese.)

We are pummelled by a consumer culture here in America and as worship leaders we have to fight against the tide of people wanting to sit back and have a relationship with God spoonfed to them.

Hungry? Drive up the road to Mikey D's, order a pizza, or stuff something in the microwave and plop your fat butt back down on the couch to watch American Idol.

Bored? Go to Fry's, Best Buy, Guitar Center, Hobby Lobby or whatever and buy your new toy... bingo, bored no more.

And what is really sad is I hear the same worship leaders who love to sing solos grousing about the lack of participation by their congregation. "Oh, they don't sing, they don't raise their hands, they don't shout, they don't dance, they don't worship, they just sit there like a bump on a log."

Of course they just sit there like the bumps on the logs, because that is what you have conditioned them to do!

If you get up every Sunday with your Chris Tomlin tribute band and jump, jive, and wail without giving a thought to the congregation except whether or not you beat last week's attendance or if your new shirt and pants outfit is really cool from a distance, then of course they are just going to sit there and watch the show! Because you have transformed the worship team into a bar band playing on Sunday morning where the wine and cocktails are now just grape juice.

So what are you conditioning your congregation to do? To sit and be consumers (wow... what a great show) or enter in to the presence of God through physical expressions of worship, singing, tithing, listening to the word, ministering to those around them, standing, kneeling, raising hands, shouting, praying...

When I raced triathlons, I always chose to ride with the bikers, run with the runners and swim with the swimmers because as I looked around at my competition, I could see that the specialists (runners, bikers and swimmers) could always smoke the generalists (triathletes) in their specialty. And I was dedicated to being around what I knew would be successful, even if it meant swimming 5000 meters with a mean masters swimming group and immediately hopping on my bike for the local bike club puke ride. I knew what I wanted (to win) and I knew how to get there (train like a mad man with other mad men)

So what are we conditioning our congregations to do?

I think that if we want our congregations to worship, then we need to leave the gut wrenching solos to the Journey tribute bands and the Monday Night Karaoke singers and bring songs to our worship celebrations that our congregations can sing and with which they resonate. And we must be freakishly dedicated to corporate congregational worship. It must be the hill that we will die on otherwise, we are just spending Sunday morning reinforcing the culture of consumerism. People will come to church to fill in the square and never leave transformed or brought into a relationship with God.

We have to be different, we are called to be different, and we are set apart to be different.

Rant over.

Sunday July 27 debrief

2008-07-29T09:17:00.003-05:00

Nehemiah, the hero of Endurance...

Well, we had planned to have the background to the sermon be a marathon race, a view of the leaders running the race, but that did not happen. Oh well... it is a good idea and should be saved for a later date.

We did reprise the kids up on stage singing Marvelous Light, which they did, really loud. I don't know if the mics picked up their singing but I tell it it was loud.

For communion we set out a pile of pebbles and asked people to pick up a pebble and pray for someone who does not know the Lord and then put it in a basket. After the sermon we passed the baskets back out and asked people to carry the pebble around with them this week to remind them that someone has prayed for a friend that is not saved and they should pray for that person.

I have received some good feedback about the musical part of the worship time. After the sermon during the offering we started Everlasting God (Brewsters version) very softly on the chorus. When offering was finished, we began the verse, again fairly softly, and once we hit the chorus the volume jumped up to a fortissimo (very loud). It was great to see people jump to their feet and sing "You are the Everlasting God."

Ali also did a fantastic job singing the lead on How Deep the Father's Love for Us. She absolutely slayed that song singing from a deep place in her spirit that understands the amazing sacrifice that was made for us and the wonder of the forgiveness that was given. I can't wait to hear Dawn's alto along with Ali's lead and my tenor on that song. Good job, Ali!

This week we are having the kids do a praise dance from the Power Lab VBS series that starts next week. We will also commission the VBS workers during the service.

The following week will be time for VBS photos, videos, and testimonies.

Grace and peace,

Lod

Sunday 7/20/08 debrief

2008-07-23T09:48:00.002-05:00

David the hero of worship...

Dion did a great job filling in for Devon. I am glad we are on a slab foundation and not pier and beam, a 230# man jumping up and down could have caused some real issues, but we should call a foundation company just to be safe.

The video interviews did not happen this week but we did have the kids come up after service and join the worship team in Marvelous Light and Better is One Day. I think the kids singing, pogo-ing and generally having a good time worshipping may have been a more productive illustrated teaching point anyway.

This week we will try again to have the VBS advertising skit (John?). Also, let's, in our conversations, remember to schill for the soccer balls, they are just $10.00 and payable to Heather, Christine, or Bill.

Also, remember to pray for Heather. It looks like she is going to be put on bed rest for a couple of weeks. She has spent the last two nights in the hospital with contractions. I understand that she had a good night last night and got some sleep and they may release her today to go home. If my info is right, the docs would like her to make it just a couple more weeks and Da-boo will be ready for his big Debut.

And pray for D. that Heather does not kill him over the next two weeks out of sheer boredom. (smile)

Grace and Peace Everyone.

Lod

Sunday 7/13/08 Debrief

2008-07-15T09:02:00.003-05:00

Well all-righty then...

This week was Samuel and the hero of obedience. Ron did a great job in teaching about obedience and repentance. For example, he told the story of Saul going ahead and offering up sacrifices to God before a major battle when Samuel was running just a bit late and Samuel basically told him that God is going to continue on the course he has set but he is going to shake up the players (sorry dude, you're fired). And in contrast, when David slept with Bathsheba and had her husband whacked, David was contrite, remorseful, and full of repentance as he got down on his face before God and pleaded for mercy.

There is a difference between willful disobedience and living in grace and sanctification. Willful disobedience is my way or the high way. Grace and sanctification shows our one desire is to serve God and follow closely to Him but yes, sometimes we mess up because we are small and through His strength we run from making our mistakes again and desperately seek His forgiveness and mercy. And it is there that we find grace, peace and love from our Father because true worship is a sincere and contrite heart and a bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering candle He will not snuff out. Praise God.

There were numerous positive comments about the musical worship time. I am humbled at how our congregation loves to sing their praises to God and especially humbled at the songs that they really latch on to as songs of their heart. For example, we did Awesome God by Mullins this weekend and what is kind of a mid-tempo ballad kind of thing as it was originally recorded is a fiery war cry for the saints at NCC.

Mistah D did a great job on the sound board and in the production of a video that highlighted those from the Word that majored in obedience. It was really cool to see the video scroll through names such as Abraham, Elijah, David and have the word "Obeyed" stay static on the screen and then see the words "Jesus Obeyed" and hear the congregation begin to applaud. Now that is worship and understanding of what the Lord has done.

We had another technical issue this week.

The A/C was great, it was a little warm with all of the bodies in the sanctuary but hey it is Texas in July.

But once the service started, our computer crumped and we did not have the lyrics to Lord I lift Your Name on High projected. Fortunately, the song is very familiar to most people and they sang along anyway. But it was touch and go with getting the videos for VBS up there and the video that Dion did up during offering.

A comment to me from by bride about our computer/presentation software troubles is that we need more ram (at least 5 gig) to do all of the things we are trying to do each Sunday. We need to investigate our options for our current platform, do we have the room for more ram, or do we need another hard drive (both inexpensive fixes for the most part).

Well this week is David and the hero of Worship taught by Dion. This should be a lot of fun. We have planned for a video of a couple of our new college students cruising around the community asking what is worship. That should be enlightening.

Well, grace and peace all.

Lod

Hmmmm... (ouch)

2008-07-14T11:32:00.002-05:00

The death of congregational singing....http://matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/library/5175/

My heart is congregational singing. Nothing thrills my soul more than to hear the voices of my brothers and sisters as they worship God in song, it is the purpose for which God has made me and I love leading worship at Northcrest because the Saints that gather there love to worship God in song. It is a true blessing and honor to be a part of the voices that praise God there.

So, read the post by Michael Raiter and tell me what you think we do well at NCC and what can we do better.

Grace and peace,

lod

Sunday July 6th debrief

2008-07-08T11:34:00.003-05:00

Our hero this Sunday was Joseph as the hero of persistence.

To illustrate our point, we had the air conditioner in the sanctuary crump. What a creative and out of the box way to get people thinking about persistence or was it perspiration (smile).

But really just as a sermon jumping off spot, Christine and Kristen found some interesting things on Ebay (sister Siamese carrots and dirt) and then created a faux Ebay page featuring the coat of many colors. There were so many subtle things that were funny on the coat page that I could not take them all in but what I did pick up made me smile. (something for everyone, "Yes sir, that's my baby!")

Kristen does a great job each week writing very poignant blog-like reviews of the previous sermons. She reviews the main points of the sermon while providing a really great novel illustration to the topic, a great tool to remind people of what was said the previous week.

We had planned to show a video highlighting Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, and others (missionaries who died in the Amazon) and the persistence of Nate Saint's sister and her attempts to reach the native people for Christ. If you have not seen the End of the Spear and Beyond the Gates of Splendor, then I strongly encourage you to watch these films. It will drive you to tears and to self examination.

The musical worship was good. Gary has taken over the drums for the month of July and did a good job on the kit. We did a very intimate version of You Never Let Go by Matt Redman and the team did a good job singing the song at a much slower tempo and handling the rubato section of the chorus.

This week, Dion has been tasked with developing a drama for Ron's time in the pulpit. So be on the lookout for the call for stage hands.

July 20th, we have a drama featuring John and Dawn that is advertising VBS. If you can think of other ways to advertise or help with VBS, let me or Annette know.

Remember, pray practice and prepare.

Grace and Peace everyone.

Lod

Sunday June 27th de-brief

2008-07-01T13:11:00.004-05:00

The what is it? Game went well. John did a great job being our host with the most. And our contestants, Jeff, Michelle, and Derrick, did a fabulous job hamming it up. The off the cuff comments from John were a riot (Pastor Devon said not to choose you, Lod, because you can't handle the truth and flames licking the outside of the building were priceless). I believe the point was well taken that relativism has permeated through our culture and we must stand for truth in every season.

One thing that should be on our list for the future is get our paticipants out of North Texas time and in the building ready to go with rehearsals at 10:00 rather than 10:15. We had barely 10 minutes with the entire group before it was time to start church. While the set was set up such that each person had their script and much of what was said was prompted by John, in the future that may not be the case, so lets set a high bar so we are not winging everything.

I think the caramels during the sermon were great (Elijah on Mount Caramel was the topic and knowing truth) and the point of sometimes truth is not sweet was very well taken by the congregation. But what I did see is that many people need to work on their hand/eye coordination. Perhaps Wii sports should be a sermon illustration activity one of these days. Oh well, I don't think anyone was too gravely injured by a flying caramel, and it certainly got everyone's attention.

Sunday's worship celebration was good. The format of uninterrupted (except by meet and greet) flow of musical worship and then announcements/offering and ITP seemed to progress better than the orders of the past couple of weeks. As far as this coming week I do not have my handy-dandy notebook with me so I do not know what the ITP is, so at this point I am not certain what this weeks worship order will look like, but stay tuned because I am going to try to get to it this evening.

So good job everyone. Let's build on what we as individuals learned from this week and make our next ITP even better.

Grace and Peace,

Lod

1 is by VBS, 2 if by sea

2008-06-30T12:14:00.003-05:00

VBS is coming! VBS is coming!

I received an email from our esteemed Children's Director and she has requested time to promo, preview, and advertise VBS. On July 20th, she has requested that there be an illustrated advertising point done by John and Yvette and a video or short announcement advertising the missions component of this year's VBS. In addition, which we have already planned for, a commissioning of the VBS workers on August 3rd.

So as we prepare for this coming month, lets look carefully at the 20th (or 27th if John and Yvette are not free) to see how we can accommodate her request.

Lod

Sunday 6/22 debrief

2008-06-27T11:16:00.000-05:00

Keep your shorts on... its not that kind of de-brief.

Kenny and Jennifer did a really great job while getting yanked out of their comfort zones and praying the prayers from Luke 18:9-14. When I asked where the congregation was in their prayers, I could see that many people had taken in the message and had been moved by the willingness of Kenny and Jennifer.

I was gratified by the teamwork done by the Ushers/Stage Hands, technical team, and others who worked together to make things happen. Even when Kenny's mic was down, Dion and Sam worked together to get him the working wireless. So which leads me to the question, are those other wireless mic's even functional? Do they need to be replaced?

Christine and I talked about the stage lights and their sudden bump and it is her impression that the faders kind of are almost all the way off or most of the way on, very little middle ground. So with that information, we can be fore-armed.

Did you see Kristen's Gaardien blog post in last Sunday's handout? I have seen her post for this week, and it is really good. Check out her work on Sunday Morning or back here next week.

Musically, things were good. But we always need to know where we are going, within a song, anticipating a song, etc. And listen to each other... if you can't hear someone, then check your own volume. Like last night, I was blowing Sam out of the water but the board had been reset for a youth band on Sunday night and we did not take the time to reset the sliders. But that particular issue will not be a problem on Sunday because Ron will be on the board and will be able to balance us back out (yay).

The new song, We Cry Out, was good and the congregation really took to it. The rough parts were ironed out last night in rehearsal. Just remember 4 bars of Am in the beginning with Dion cuing us to start the 4 bar repeat.

We will have a bit more flow this week as we have been learning about the new paradigm regarding our worship celebrations and how we integrate the ITP's (illustrated teaching points).

Well, that is all because it is lunch time.

pray practice prepare

Grace and peace, y'all

Lod

Worship Band Videos

2008-06-27T11:11:00.000-05:00

The cat over at Take Your Vitamin Z has posted a series of videos featuring studio musicians from Nashville that focus on playing on a worship team. They go through numerous things, like who do you listen to when you are playing, knowing the words, and playing with a click track.

Go over to http://takeyourvitaminz.blogspot.com/2008/06/church-band-seminar-round-up.html and check them out. Even if you have thought about all of this before or had conversations about these very same topics, it is a great refresher and will remind you of things that you have known but not been aware of.

A really great site, so please give it a visit and a view.

Lod

What is It?

2008-06-27T09:36:00.000-05:00

This Sunday our Hero is Elijah and he is our hero of truth.

Our Celebration Order looks like this;

Unchanging/Prince of Peace (You are Holy)
Meet and Greet
We Cry Out
Let My Words Be Few (I stand in awe of You)
Jesus, Be the Center
Offering
Scripture
Announcements
Illustrated Teaching Point (ITP) --the game show of Truth
Devon's Teaching
Better is One Day
Heroes

Points of Procedure:

During the offering and Announcements, the band needs to remove their sheet music and move their music and mic stands over near the keyboard kind of angled in the style of so many Chuck Woolery game shows. John LaVine will have the wireless mic and will be the game show host.

The Lead in music, the chorus to Epic by Faith no more, "What is it?" and sound effects of applause and laughter are in ITunes in a folder labelled 6/29/08. We will have the time stamp marked for the What is it portion of the song.

We are meeting up at NCC Saturday to run the ITP through rehearsal at 11:00.

So tech team be ready and have the wireless mic hot before John goes up on stage. He is a veteran of Radio and Live Speaking so his voice will be strong and clear. The Media Queen will have run through the sound and visual on Saturday so we will be ready for that.

Pray for the game show contestants and others that they have some fun and communicate the message that our culture has embraced relativism when it comes to truth and there is only one truth, Jesus, the way, the truth and the light.

That is all, you may now return to your regularly scheduled programming

Lod