WholeHeartedLife

My Breakout Session

On Saturday morning at the "What's Next?" Conference for Baptist Campus Ministry, I led a breakout session called, "The 10 "BE's" of a Lead Worshiper" - here are the notes from that session:

1. Be excellent: to be excellent you must define what excellence looks like; and don't define that by other churches (setting the bar too low). You must be excellent at what you do if you expect it from others. I am sick of the church having such a lack of excellence about it. Demand excellence: rehearsal and practice are not the same thing. I tell our musicians, "Practice is what you do by yourself to grow as a musician, learn songs and prepare to meet with all of us - Rehearsal is what we do when we put it all together. Your lack of preparation negates anothers hard work." Quit making excuses: excuses give me "an out" when i don't give my best. We use people who aren't talented because "they love the Lord" and then wonder why people don't wanna come to our gatherings. There is talent on your campus - they may be lost - a great way to lead them to JESUS is by using them!
2. Be Patient: Ministry is a Cruise Ship, not a Ferarri. Ferarri's are fast and turn very quickly but they only carry 2 people. A cruise ship CANNOT turn quickly but it carries thousands of people - Ministry is like the cruise ship, if you turn it too quick you'll make people sick...
3. Be Humble: this one is hard... because if you do this (lead worship), God made you with this ability to stand before people and perform, and speak, and it takes a certain amount of confidence. If you don't watch out, that confidence will turn into pride. Don't drink the Kool-Aid everyone gives to you (you know what the Kool-Aid is?): "you are SO great! God is using you SO much!". "You have such an annointing!" "You're the reason we come here!" I REPEAT: do not drink the Kool-Aid! It tastes good! don't drink it! It's poisonous... And besides, when you do you STEAL GOD'S GLORY... whenever someone does this, point them back to JESUS... which brings us to...
4. Be a Worshiper: no-brainer, huh? One of the most dangerous things in the world is to become a "professional worshiper". Let me share something with you: God is more concerned with your private worship on Monday morning than He is impressed with your public worship on Sunday. Listen to this:

   21 "I hate, I despise your religious feasts;
          I cannot stand your assemblies.

   22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
          I will not accept them.
          Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, ^[a]
          I will have no regard for them. (We cannot buy God!)

   23 Away with the noise of your songs! (Without the heart the most Theological of songs is noise to You, O God)
          I will not listen to the music of your harps. (Amos 5:21-23 - NIV)
   
   It is possible to "DO" the actions that represent worship without truly worshiping. The actions of worship w/o the heart of worship is nothing more than meaningless ritual.

5. Be Accountable: Who has permission to speak into your life when it is obvious something is out of whack? Who knows you like that? Being a stage personality (no matter how big or small) can be dangerous, what did i say earlier? Don't drink the Kool-Aid! You need a few people who you can let your guard down with... make sure they are as strong or stronger than you (you don't want that to be someone you can push around). It's too easy to fall... make sure there is someone there to keep that from happening. Be diligent about this.
6. Be Challenged: everything you do is a challenge to others, who is challenging you? Blogs... Vision... Be a learner (not a follower) what works somewhere might not work in your context - maybe not now. I was told 9 years ago that what I do NOW would not work in our region. Which brings me to...
7. Be Prayed Up: Direction comes from JESUS! You need a white-hot vision from JESUS, not from another church or someone's blog! Spiritual covering, Spiritual Guidance, Spiritual Eyes (i used to thank God in advance for what He had yet to do but i was believing Him for... "thank you, Jesus, for the drummer you're gonna send." (I told the story of leading our drummer James to Jesus one nite in our parking lot).
8. Be filled with the Holy Spirit: The power of the Holy Spirit will bring you a holy boldness that does not reek of puffed-up arrogance... Boldness is the annointing to

9. Be creative - God is outrageously creative - look at the world! Why are we boring? We have believed the lie that excellence is not a priority.

10. Be Dangerous: We have the power of the Living God on our side, what are we afraid of? BSU should not be a safe-haven for little christian youth group kidz, it should be a dangerous place that JESUS uses to bring light and life onto a campus. Your worship ministry creates the whole atmosphere of the evening - you gotta "bring it!".
11. Be a Question Asker (so go ahead, ask me some questions)

That was the outline... it was well recieved and had some great questions thrown at me. I've said it before, i love ministering with this age group!

a riddle?

I sent some scripture to the worship team on Monday - in the form of a riddle - thought I would share it (and some interpretations) with you, so here it is:

2 Samuel 6:12-16; 20-23

12 "Now King David was told, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God." So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 David, wearing a linen ephod, dance before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart...

20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

21 David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor."

23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death."

This is really serious, but treat it like a riddle - can you figure out why I am sending this to you?

What about the rest of you - your comments?

It's Friday...

...and my mind is all over the place (and for those of you who are regular readers, you could say that "it's" kickin'!). This week has been interesting as we've explored the subject of worship. I mentioned last friday that it was wild that I had not really written much about the subject of worship - I think that this speaks volumes about "where" i'm at in ministry - that though most would think of me as a worship leader, my heart is in so many different areas. This series was my response to Paul's encouragement to Timothy in which he instructed his student:

Command and teach these things. 12Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 13Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. (1 Timothy 4:11-14)

As I meditated on this verse I was reminded of the prayers prayed over me in my ministry and the prophecy that I believe was spoken "over" my ministry. I was reminded that I am to pass this on, just as it was passed-on to me. God has blessed me SO much - my ministry has been so fruitful, my life (even at the age of 37, full and rich). I truly want to bless others as i've been blessed.

You know, from the time I became a believer (April '97) I wanted to be a part of a "worshiping church" - a church whose worship of the Lord was extraordinary (emphasis on "extra" is purposeful); Most people in our area would think that hyde park IS that kind of church: I myself, believe that we (especially ME) have much growth in front of us in the area of worship - We are just beginning to explore what this really means for us.

Let me make myself clear: IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME THAT OUR PEWS ARE FILLED WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE DESPERATE TO MEET WITH GOD - I want people to experience something so out of the ordinary - I want them to realize in a hyde park worship experience that we are a people who have met God, are meeting with God and that HE, GOD, in the person of JESUS CHRIST, wants to meet with them.

There were so many great comments this week but my friend Greg narrowly wins the award for greatest comment when he quoted Rich Mullins as saying, "And then I realized, wow, what a terrific thing when you are so in love that you forget how obnoxious love looks to everybody else." (if you didn't read his whole comment you can here). I just want to thank all of you that commented this week and made this even more fun than it normally is.

On another note: I'm really pumped about this weekend - I hope that you are actually doing something with the LDP - this teaching will absolutely change your life. I don't know if i've mentioned it lately: I really love JESUS and I really love all of you! See ya Sunday!

Made to Worship - Part 4 - Style and Controversey

We will wrap up our discussion on worship this week by talking about worship music. There is nothing that is more controversial in the church than music style. NOTHING! Churches have split, relationships destroyed and spiritual lives hopelessly damaged because people didn't like the music being sung in their church.

Hyde Park is a transitioned church - meaning that we have moved to a different place musically. We do all kinds of music in our services - sometimes hymns, sometimes praise choruses, sometimes modern worship; sometimes we even use secular music if it illustrates the point that we are trying to make in that particular service. I am thankful to serve a church that is filled with people that understand THE MISSION: to reach people who don't know JESUS! We all know (and are continually reminded by our pastor) that, "it's not about us!"

You may LOVE what we do musically (the response we receive from most who visit is that they do - it seems they appreciate that we're different); You may LIKE our music; You may ENDURE our music because you believe in our mission; You may even DISLIKE our music.

Whatever your penchant is toward our style may we remember that music IS NOT the same as worship. Music is a tool that we use to worship - as is service, giving of our finances, showing mercy and grace to others and other things - they are tools that we use to express our love and devotion to God, but they, in and of themself are not worship. Therefore, it is possible to worship at a church that doesn't necessarily do things "your way" - it takes a lot of maturity and grace, but it is possible.

I think that it's interesting that throughout the ages music has always been a "sticking point" in the Christian church. You probably didn't realize that many leaders of our faith have OPPOSED the use of musical instruments (all musical instruments - not just the ones they like - many people in other churches are fine with "church instruments" like piano and organ, but think drums are of the devil. It might surprise you to find out that Martin Luther said that the organ was of the devil, the same way that fundamentalists say that drums are ) Thanks to Todd at MMI for the link.

Martin Luther:  “The organ in the worship service is a sign of Baal.” Realencyklopadie Fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche, Bd, 14, s.433 cited in Instrumental Music and New Testament Worship, James D. Bales, p. 130.  (HT:  ChristianResearchNetwork.info.)

(my side note: regardless of Martin Luther's archaic view about musical instruments being used to worship JESUS, he was the ultimate in "contemporary worship" in his day - he would take the most popular bar-room songs and rewrite the lyrics with God-honoring words - REALLY COOL!)

Thomas Aquinas, Catholic Theologian; 13th century: “Our church does not use musical instruments, as harps and psalteries, to praise God withal, that she may not seem to Judaize.” Bingham’s Antiquities, Vol. 2, p.483, London

John Calvin, Reformation Leader, Founder of Reformed & Presbyterian denominations: “Musical Instruments in celebrating the praises of God would be no more suitable than the burning of incense, the lighting of lamps, and the restoration of the other shadows of the law. “ Calvin, Commentary on Psalm 33, see also commentary on 1 Samuel 18:1-9

John Wesley, Founder of Methodist Denomination: “I have no objection to instruments of music in our chapels, provided they are neither heard nor seen.” Cited by Methodist commentator Adam Clarke; Clarke’s Commentary, Vol. 4, p.684

Catholic Encyclopedia: “Although Josephus tells of the wonderful effects produced in the Temple by the use of instruments, the first Christians were of too spiritual a fibre to substitute lifeless instruments for or to use them to accompany the human voice. Clement of Alexandria severely condemns the use of instruments even at Christian banquets.” Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 10, p. 652

Charles Spurgeon, Baptist Author/Pastor: “We might as well pray by machinery as sing by it” and “Israel was at school, and used childish things to help her learn; but in these days when Jesus gives us spiritual food, one can make melody without strings and pipes… we do not need them. That would hinder rather than help our praise. Sing unto Him. This is the sweetest and best music. No instrument like the human voice.” Charles Spurgeon, Commentary on Psalm 42

Do you not find it amazing that the fathers of the modern church hated instruments so much? Music has always been a sticking point in Christianity. I take great confidence and comfort in the fact that God gave us a songbook in the scriptures (Psalms) yet didn't give us notes to play those songs by:

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT GOD REALIZED THAT EVERY GENERATION AND CULTURE WOULD HAVE THEIR OWN STYLES AND SOUNDS? IS IT POSSIBLE THAT HE IS LESS CONCERNED WITH OUR STYLE, SOUND AND LOOK AND MORE CONCERNED WITH THE WAY THAT OUR HEART OPENS TO HIM WHEN WE ACTUALLY WORSHIP?

You know, it takes all types. I am thankful for all the sister churches we have in our area and for what they do. It is my sincere desire that they are living-out God's purpose and plan for that church. Their personality as a church might reach someone that hyde park will not and vice-versa - we are all in this thing together, on the same team, etc. Personally, I like so many different styles of music, Christian and otherwise. I am not anti-hymn, or anti-Southern Gospel as many think, we have just decided to be different than the other churches in our region. Who knows, maybe, by conciously being different, we will reach people that others will not...

...and that matters - EVERYONE needs to be reached because without JESUS they are not living out the life God designed for them and without JESUS they will not spend eternity in heaven.

Made to Worship - Part 3 - In Public?

Today, we continue "Made to Worship". On Monday we literally illustrated with video, personal worship done in a corporate (church) setting. Yesterday, we spoke about preparing ourselves for worship (If you haven't read it please start here). Today, we're going to take a concept presented on Monday a little deeper.

Let me start by saying that one of the biggest hinderances to personal worship not yet mentioned would be PRIDE. Pride is the basis for one not being willing to be uncomfortable personally for the benefit of One that they love. One of the hardest things for a human to do is the act of PDA (public display of affection). Now, some of you who read are anti-PDA - i can tell, i observe the way that you are with your spouse and your kidz.

"MIKE, I THOUGHT THIS WEEK WAS ABOUT WORSHIP?" It is - stay with me here...

If we have a hard time to show affection to the physical beings that we love more than anything on earth (our spouse / kidz), how in the world can we show Our God (Whom we've never seen) affection in public thus risking looking INSANE?

...and honestly, i think that might be our hold-up. We care about what others think. You do and so do i. But, for me, although i do care about what others think about some things i don't care what your impression is of me:

I don't care if you are offended that i show affection to Keyna - I don't care your opinions about the way i show affection to Madison and Matthew - and i could care less what you think about the way that i publicly worship JESUS.

My public worship has been a long, hard road that has taken much discipline - a discipline to "go against the grain" because i really felt that "this" was what God wanted from me - a constant struggle to lead places that others (including myself) have not always been comfortable going yet, in my heart, i KNEW that God was instructing me to go there and as the "lead-worshiper" it was my duty to explore "UWT" (uncharted-worship-territory).

YOU WILL NEVER FORGET YOUR 1ST TIME! Right? ("uh-oh! Where's he going with this one?")

I will NEVER forget the 1st time I raised my hands in a worship service. I was at Westside Baptist Church, my 1st church; I can see it in my "mind's eye" - i can see where I was sitting (left side - about 4th row) and remember the struggle going on in my soul...

JESUS: mike, raise your right hand to me.
me: huh?
JESUS: raise your right hand to me.
me: but what about the others in here - they aren't. They might look at me.
JESUS: they WILL look at you - and I WANT THEM TO.
me: but, Lord, can't i wait until next time?
JESUS: no, do it now - surrender yourself to me - don't think about what they're thinking - release yourself to me - I AM ALL THAT MATTERS IN THIS PLACE! Now, lift your right hand to me...
me (slipping my right hand in the air):
JESUS: see, that's not bad, is it?
me: no, i guess it's ok. Lord, I worship You right now, no matter what anyone else around me is thinking...
JESUS: then, lift your left hand to me also and show me that you don't care what anyone else is thinking.
me (slipping up my left hand - then, after a moment, lifting them both high above my head): Lord, i don't care what anyone thinks - I - WORSHIP - YOU AND YOU ALONE! You are worthy of my being uncomfortable and somewhat embarrassed and exposed...
JESUS: mike, if you follow Me and do what I tell You, Your life will be filled with experiences like this - follow me.
me: yes, Lord - i love you, JESUS...

And that was what it was like - my 1st time - the beginning of my sometimes extravagant PDA. I am free. Period. I am free to worship Him however I feel that He wants me to in that moment.

WHAT ABOUT YOU - ARE YOU WILLING TO SURRENDER YOUR COMFORT FOR THE SAKE OF SHOWING HIM YOUR LOVE IN A PUBLIC DISPLAY of AFFECTION?

Made to Worship - Part 2 - Preparing

What a tremendous discussion we had for Part 1 of my series on worship called, "Made to Worship" (thanks to all of you who participated). Yesterday, we talked about what worship looks like for the average worshiper, and we actually looked at some individual worship in other churches - we explained that because we are all created to worship JESUS, we all sort of have a "worship personality". Most people will work to grow in many areas (like discipline or prayer or bible reading) but never think about growing as a worshiper. As I said yesterday: If we want to we can GROW as a worshiper. (If you missed yesterday's post PLEASE READ IT NOW.)

Today, we will discuss how to prepare to worship; the warm-up for worship. Although we are always "in His presence" omnipresently, if we want to sense Him in corporate worship, there is the need to prepare/warm up because many things can hinder the worship of a believer, such as:

• Prayerlessness - I look at worship as a time of intimacy with God. Prayer is the constant conversation between us and Him; if we are not spending time in conversation, sharing our lives with Him we will find it hard to enter in during a time of worship. If you only spoke to your spouse 4 times a week, and everytime you did it was because you NEEDED something, something would be wrong.
• Lack of study of the Bible - You won't know God when you don't know His heart - there is no way to know His heart outside of reading the bible. I wish I could give the person credit who first said, "When I close my bible, God closes His mouth."
• Unconfessed sin - God is holy. If we are to enter into the place where He is, we must confess the sin that we've fallen into. When we do these things, this happens.

So Many people have written about this over the years, all of whom are deeper than I. I will tell you something that has been great for me - A great way to begin is to remember that Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.'. We begin by thanking Him for all He's done, for Who He is and then we actually vocally give Him Praise. I've done this so many times - it's David's prescription for worship - if it worked for David...

Let me say it like this: If you wanna truly be a worshiper, there is a preparedness that must take place. Case in point: the 8:21 service at hyde park. If you attend any of the other 2 services we have you will find that they are more lively and seem to go to a deeper place than the 8:21; His presence seems more near in the other 2 services (which shouldn't be, as 8:21 is when the "church" comes). You could make your arguments about why you think that is - I will argue that we'd be lucky if 10% of the people in the room on any given Sunday during 8:21 spent anytime seeking God PRIOR to their Sunday morning attendance. I believe that most crawl out of bed, get ready and barely make it to the service - that they have not worshiped as of yet, have not read scripture, have not prayed (except maybe to say, "Lord, let me get there on time" or "help me not to KILL them before we arrive!" )...

they walk in, COLD, and expect to just enter into worship - no thanksgiving, no praise, they attend in body but many, because of lack of preparedness, have a dis-engaged spirit. (let me say, if you attend the 8:21, and this IS NOT you, then I'm not talking about you - you would be listed in the 10% - I'm talking about those who come in cold and remain cold).

My suggestion: get up earlier. Set the clock 15 mins before you would normally get up. Grap a cup of Starbucks, open your Bible, say to the Lord, "JESUS, I am here because I want to go deeper as a worshiper..."; read your scripture, and give Him thanks and praise. Get ready, take a shower, love the people in your household for JESUS, get in the car - put on your favorite worship music and praise Him all the way to church (be the worship leader of your car) and when you pull in the parking lot express the love of JESUS to everyone you come into contact with: DO THIS AND WATCH YOUR CORPORATE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE CHANGE!

Here's another one: don't save your worship for Sunday. Someone once shared with me that God is more interested in your Monday morning worship than your Sunday morning performance. OUCH! That personally hurt!

I'll close today like this: worship is between you and JESUS - it's an intimate act of love that allows you to express your thanks to Him; it doesn't "just happen"; it's not singing - it's you, pouring your life out and allowing His Spirit to come in and cleanse you from all that is wrong in your life. There is a preparedness that must take place to worship - just as you would warm up to compete in sports there is a warm up to worship.

QUESTION: WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO WAKE UP A FEW MINUTES EARLIER ON SUNDAY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PRAYER AND SEEKING GOD IN WORSHIP SO THAT YOUR CORPORATE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE WOULD BE DEEPER? WHAT IS YOUR MONDAY MORNING WORSHIP LIKE?

Made to Worship - Part 1

This week we're talking about worship and what it means to the regular hyde park attendee who is trying learn to follow JESUS on a daily basis with more passion than they did yesterday.

For me, worship is an amazing (yet puzzling) concept; that we (unworthy, unholy) can come into the presence of our Holy, Righteous God for the purpose of fellowship, prayer, making requests, sharing our love and devotion in His presence. Why would He even bother with us? I don't know about you, but I find myself failing, like, everyday. Thank God that...

"...God is love." (1 John 4:8). Even more amazing is the fact that, as Romans 5:8, says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." What does this mean for you and I? I believe it means that, because of His great love, we should do all we can to demonstrate our love back to Him. I believe in Public Displays of Affection (PDA) - I know that many don't, I do, and therefore, because I practice it with humans, I believe that I am to practice it with God.

I think that we should all strive to have more PDA in our lives - with our spouses, children, friends, family - even with work associates (when appropriate, of course). Now I know that some are wondering where this is going - I am saying that we should all strive to show more PDA for JESUS.

Why is it that one of the hardest things for a Christian to learn to do is to publicly express their love to God? Why can a person go to a ballgame or a race and scream & shout yet come into church and be so dis-engaged? I'm convinced that a lot of it has to do with their tradition ("church is a place to be quiet and reverent!")and some of it has to do with embarrassment ("what would they think of me?").

We show excitement about that which we are excited about - We show passion to that which we have passion for - We express deep love and thankfulness for that which we have a deep love and thanks for.

Everyone worships differently - We should have our own "worship personality". Most people never think about this - they will work to grow in many areas but never think about growing as a worshiper. Let me say it again: If we want to we can GROW as a worshiper.

I will close today with 2 illustrations (Please find the time to watch these) - I will use video from 2 different churches. Here's what I ask you to observe: watch the way that others worship the Lord, observe the different personalities. Notice how many are "tuned-in" to Him - they speak to Him in prayer as the service unfolds. Many are having "communion" with their King, they are intimate in His presence as He pours Himself out upon them... It's obviously an awesome time.

Question: Are you willing to grow as a worshiper? Your own personal growth - stretching your comfort zone for Him?

Next Week

AMAZING! Absolutely, unbelievably amazing! The fact that I have submitted over 175 posts in my short, "blog-life" and I have never written about the thing that most people associate me with - WORSHIP.

Why? Here's a couple of reasons:

1. Everyone who writes about worship eventually bores me. In their effort to be thorough in their explanation of the weightiest of subjects they are often so caught up in the mechanics that it ceases to be "worshipful" - in other words, for me (and this is just an opinion), they often lose the excitement that they have about one of the most unbelievable subjects known to man; that somehow, spiritually, we (unworthy, unholy) can come into the presence of our Holy, Righteous God and somehow make requests in His presence. The thought alone, if you dwell on it, should be terrifying!
2. My target audience is not "worship-leaders", but my experience is from the aspect of a lead-worshiper. My target is you, the regular attendee who is trying learn to follow JESUS on a daily basis with more passion than you did yesterday. I want to help you (many of you are so kind as to how much you have been encouraged by WholeHearted Life) - I want to write about things that you can relate to - until now, i've never felt led to write about being a worshiper. I don't want the "lead-worshiper" to write in such a way that I begin leaving out those who are not musically inclined. Truth is, worship IS NOT ABOUT MUSIC - WORSHIP IS THE MAIN OUTWARD / INWARD EXPRESSION OF LOVE THAT WE SHOW TO JESUS and goes hand-in-hand with the discipline of obedience.
3. This is a matter of growth for all of us. Especially me. I think that somehow, this is a place we've come to, that there is a "next-level" that we are pushing towards in our near future as a church. This is also a manner of continuing to live out the THIS calling - I am to pass on what God has taught me.

I'm a little nervous about this - i don't know why - but if you are serious about becoming a more devoted worshiper of God please make plans to join me everyday next week on WholeHearted as we will do an online series called, "Made to Worship".