i am an offering

Yet again, I’m going to postpone my post on discipline and exercise until tomorrow.  I was going to post it today and ignore what everyone else is posting about - but’s too important to not talk about.

You’ve more than likely heard, but for those who haven’t, Mike Guglielmucci, who wrote “Healer” which had quickly risen as a worship-song phenomenon throughout the worship leading world, and who had claimed that the song was born out of a battle with cancer was exposed yesterday morning. Various news sources revealed that he had been faking it all along.

What do we do with something like this?  The first thing my wife said when I mentioned the news to her is, “That is absolutely disgusting.”  And she’s right - but once we get past the insanity of what Mike chose to do and really wrestle with the consequences for the rest of the world as they watch this - how do we respond?

• How do we respond when the world says that Christians are no different than the rest of the world and are actually mere hypocrites?
• How do we respond to the fact that someone families put their trust in as a youth pastor devastated that trust?
• How do we respond to someone using one of the most serious diseases that cause so many people immense amounts of grief as a disguise?

We respond the way we would respond every day.  Realize we are all sinners and filthy in God’s sight without Jesus’ work on the cross.  Learn about, embrace and daily practice integrity in everything we do.  Surround ourselves with accountability on several levels - we can’t just trust our family to hold us accountable as we are completely capable of fooling even our own families.  And then respond this way:

• When the world says we’re no different - admit that they’re right. We are all messed-up sinners who need a Savior.  We all talk one way and act another many times.  Embrace humility and compassion above all else.
• Realize even more the importance of accountability within our personal lives, our family lives, our professional lives and our lives in ministry.  We must have people that hold us accountable.  And not just an occasional question here or there.  We need to be willing to be put to the grueling test - and often.
• We pray.  We realize that what he has done does not change who God is and what Christianity is all about.  And we realize that God is still the Ultimate Healer - for everything - physically and mentally.

My heart breaks for Mike - and even more so his family.  My heart breaks for the church.  But even more so - my heart yearns to apply integrity, accountability and raw honesty with unbridled passion to everything I do.  Will you do the same?

I also want to point you to a fantastic perspective and response to this situation at The Worship Community - written by Fred McKinnon.  Please read it and think deeply about what he says.

Yesterday I was blessed to have an article in the “featured articles” section of The Worship Community.  I wanted to point you over there to take a read.  The article talks about five things that are needed to orchestrate effective rehearsals.  Here are the five things (read the article to get the details about each step).

1. Preparation.
2. Have the Right People in Place.
3. Proper Use of Time.
4. Respect Each Other.
5. Leaders lead.  Followers follow.

Go over and take a read - and while you’re at it sign up to participate in the forums.

What I Blog About - From Wordle

Since Billy Chia just confessed that he is a “church addict” after entering his blog into wordle, I wanted to see what would come about if I did the same thing.  Here it is:

The best thing about it - every time I refreshed, the words “worship” and “happened” always showed up prominently.  Thank You, Lord, for reassuring me that “worship happened” every time we have gathered!

Blog Love - Some Links You Should Check Out

Shannon shares a great series on Maturity in Christ.  I’d highly encourage reading all parts.  Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, a bit more, and a bit more!

Brad Loser (loh-ser, not loo-zer!) is going through Worship Matters. If you want some detailed thoughts from some folks going through the book, definitely check it out.  He shares quite a bit, so be prepared for some reading, but it’s worth it.

Billy shares a really fantastic post on complaining and feedback to follow up his humorous post that he posted in response to Ragamuffin Soul’s “you-asked-for-it” question. I think I’m one of the few people that actually recommends not reading Ragamuffin soul, but I thought Billy eventually turned this around quite positively. *EDIT* Los contacted me directly with a very positive comment asking why I said this in the comments.  I really appreciate it and explained why I said this below.  I shouldn’t have said it and should have let people come to their own decision about his blog.  I do apologize for that and hope we can all be at peace.  The power of words are quite incredible at times.

Russ has a fantastic story about his privilege to be Fred’s guest at National Worship Leader Conference and hang out with some of the more famous worship folks.

Lorie King has a featured article on The Worship Community on how to enhance stage presence. I think her perspective is right on with all of these tips.

Finally, Fred has a wonderful post about making sure we focus on good things happening and celebrate victories.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!  More thoughts from my teaching this Sunday will come next week.

Hello all!  Friday is here and the weekend is almost upon us!  I wanted to share a couple of random things:

Music Theory at The Worship Community

My first article at The Worship Community has been published.  Check it out, especially if you’re wondering why it’s important to know music theory as a worship leader.

Gravatars

Secondly - do you wonder how some people get cool little images next to there comments in the comments section and some don’t?  I wondered about that for a long time as I was visiting other blogs as well and as I was designing the new theme for this one I figured out the secret - Gravatar.com! What this site does is allow you to register email addresses and assign an image to them or, a globally recognized avatar.  Every time you sign in somewhere to post a comment or something similar, if the website is set up properly, it will automatically grab your gravatar and post your image.  Pretty nifty!

Have a great weekend!

During the last several weeks I’ve had the privilege of connecting with a bunch of new worship leaders through blogs and various twitter accounts.  Through conversations I was introduced to The Worship Community, a grassroots community site for worship leaders.  It had started out as just a forum a little over a year ago and has now grown into a one-stop resource with videos, the original forum and featured articles from worship leaders all over the country.

One of the coolest things about it is that it is featuring “every-day worship leaders,” those of us that are “in the trenches” in the local church.  As great as it is to see writing and resources from “the big names” it’s so cool to see a bunch of local people featured.

Another cool thing is that I’ve been asked to write for the site!  I’m very excited to be a part of it and so thankful that God has blessed the time spent on this blog to be able to expand and encourage others.  So please, check it out and join the forums or leave a comment on any articles that are there.  It will definitely encourage you!