i am an offering

If you have time (and you should make the time) you should definitely stop and check out this video interview between Bob Kauflin and Tim Smith (worship pastor at Mars Hill in Seattle). It’s over an hour long, and I haven’t watched the full interview yet but I’m sure it’s definitely worth it. If you don’t want to take an hour out of your day, however, Bob has posted a condensed segment dealing with “the worship experience and the presence of God” and will be posting some more clips soon.

God was kind enough to bless me to be able to be one of the winners in a contest to win Bob Kauflin’s new book, Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God. I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book. It has shifted my thinking in many ways. It has challenged me, encouraged me and convicted me. One of the requirements of getting the free book from the contest was that we would write a review. So here it is. Forgive me for the length of this post, there’s just no way to do a short review of this book.

Content

Like any book of these matters (no pun intended, well, maybe a little bit intended), the content is king. It doesn’t matter how good the writing style is or how funny the author is because we’re dealing with a serious, eternal subject. The content in this book is broad, relevant to any worship leader at any stage and very easy to grasp. Bob could have gone into much more doctrinal and theological depth (he has the capability) but made sure that those things were stressed without going over the heads of those who might not yet realize the immense importance of correct doctrine and theology.

At first I wasn’t quite sure if I liked the format of the book. It seemed like every chapter had a bunch of lists and sublists and seemed a bit mechanical. I continued reading, however, I realized just how helpful those lists were and how simple Bob made things easily remembered and marked. There are several sections in the book that I have underlined Bob saying something like, “Here are five ways that…” or “Here are five things to remember…” and then numbered these things in my copy.

The best part of Bob’s Content is “Part Two: The Task” where he unpacks his definition of a worship leader. My pastor was browsing through the table of contents and said, “Wow, this guy’s got his thesis right in the table of contents.” Indeed he does. This section was so helpful amidst so many different cultural expectations and definitions for worship leaders present in today’s society. Bob constantly keeps the focus on Jesus, and that He is the ultimate worship leader and the only one that has the ability to bring us into God’s presence. I loved these thoughts from the chapter on “…A Faithful Worship Leader…”

If our leadership focuses on musical experiences, we’ll reap a desire for better sounds, cooler progressions, and more creative arrangements. If we sow to immediate feelings, we’ll reap meetings driven by the pursuit of emotional highs. If we lead in such a way that we’re the center of attention, we’ll reap a man-centered focus, shallow compliments, and ungodly comparisons.

On the other hand, if we sow to God’s glory in Christ, we’ll reap the fruit of people in awe of God’s greatness and goodness. But to do that we must faithfully paint a compelling, attractive, biblical picture of the Savior.” (pg 59-60)

And the book never strays from those words. All the content is aimed at learning how to “faithfully paint a compelling, attrative, biblical picture of the Savior.” There are plenty of practical tips on music, teams and real life examples, but the majority of the book rightly focuses on builidng a community of worshipers that sees God’s glory in a new way and magnifies Him every day.

Writing Style

As I mentioned before. Bob keeps the writing style simple and easy to follow. Almost every chapter is made up of great lists that are easly applicable to any leader or team, no matter their stage of growth. Bob is mostly serious, but adds some great humor in several spots that helps to lighten things up.

Application

This book is written in such a way that it applies to any worship leader and any worship team, from any denomination or church background for any length of time these ministries have been established. It is also extremely applicable to pastors. In fact, Bob even saves the last chapter specifically for pastors and encourages pastors to read through the whole book. He mentions that

Humanly speaking, the pastor is the worship leader. He is the one responsible before God for the corporate worship of the church…” (pg 54)

I’m very glad to see Bob taking the Pastor’s role so seriously and highlighting the wonderful relationship he had with his senior pastor when first coming on staff at his current church.

Extra Goodies

If the extremely thoughtful and helpful content of the book isn’t enough, Bob goes on to add a “brief, annotated bibliography” and a whole section of “notes.” Both of these sections of the book are worth the price you’ll pay for it. Don’t skip them, as they include many valuable resources and some great extra thoughts from Bob.

Definitely Worth Many Re-Reads

I highly recommend this book. If you’re just beginning worship ministry, this will provide a solid foundation that will last your whole ministry. If you’re an experienced worship leader, this will challenge and convict you to really think about what your doing. No matter who you are, this book will ultimately cause our “view of, trust in, and desire for God’s glory in Christ and him crucified to increase…” (pg 79)

You can order Worship Matters here. You can read more from Bob about matters of worship and why worship matters here.

Yesterday I mentioned that I was of the winners of Bob Kauflin’s book giveaway. Here is my response to his question of “why worship matters:”

What is the ultimate purpose of a follower of Jesus? Looking at each answer that might be given to that question, a common theme lingers: to glorify Him.  If you believe that the ultimate purpose of a Christ-follower is to make disciples, you still must glorify Jesus while making disciples.  If you believe that the ultimate purpose of a Christ-follower is to reach the lost, you still must glorify Jesus while reaching the lost.

To glorify Jesus means to honor Him, above all else, in all things.  Because in all things we must glorify Jesus, this is why worship matters

We must give Him glory in all things - therefore we must worship Him in all things.  Check out some more great responses to why worship matters.

Worship Matters - Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God

A while back Bob Kauflin offered the opportunity to win a free copy of his new book that shares the title of his website.  We were asked to tell why worship matters in 100 words or less.  I was able to keep mine to exactly 100 words and I was informed that I was one of the twenty winners, which is very exciting, because I was hoping to get a copy of the book.

Well, it’s here (complete with a hand-written note on the inside cover - now that’s just downright cool) and I’m already devouring it.  I’ll be posting a review when I’m finished with the book (hopefully within this week or next.)

Sunday Recap

This Sunday was a good day at Living Word, as always, but with a few hiccups.  The first issue was that the folks who were running EasyWorship weren’t sure how to get it to project on the screen.  A few settings needed to be changed and we were up and running.  We’ll have to make sure all the video operators know how to troubleshoot.

The second issue was that since we’re a church plant that sets up every week, we record our sermons on CF cards.  Well, the CF cards went missing and we didn’t catch the sermon, which is unfortunate, because it was very good and very convicting.

Other than that, the day was great.  One thing that I notice as I type, however, is the only song I remember us singing is “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us.”  When I plan the music for a service I get so intimately familiar with the songs.  This week, since I didn’t plan them, I barely remember them.  I guess that’s food for thought when worrying if we’re singing a new song too often when we’re introducing it - perhaps people don’t even remember what we sang last week!

All in all - a good day at Living Word.  Tomorrow I’ll share my 100 word response to the question, “Why does worship matter?”

Many of you know that I consider Bob Kauflin (director of worship development for Covenant Life church) one of my distance mentors, although I’ve never met him.  Well, he’s got a new book out, Worship Matters - Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God, and I’m excited to read it.  The trouble is…I don’t have it yet! :-)  When I do get a copy though, I will definitely be posting a review.  In the meantime, I just wanted to make any other pastor and worship leader aware of this great new resource.  You can order the book here. You can here a great interview with Bob Kauflin here.