i am an offering

After looking up what “in absentia” actually means I have to say this - “You keep using that word.  I do not think that word means you what think it means.”  But I digress already….

For those of you (like me) who are unable to attend WorshipGod08 I thought I’d offer a few highlights from some folks who have been there and are posting to Twitter.  Even just a few great nuggets from the conference were enough to encourage me.  So here we go:

“Our perception of God will shape our response to God in worship” - CRAIG CABINESS (via Shannon Lewis.)

WG08: Thabiti Anyabwile - Self-centered emotions lead to despair, but God-centered emotions to a singular love for Christ!” (via Josh Tuttle)

Attending Bob Kauflin’s session on The Task of a Worship Leader. It appears everyone else at this conference is in here, too.” (via Gregory Pittman) Not surprised!

His word is more powerful than the flow of our services - Kauflin” (via Brad Loser)

I also found this exchange rather interesting and humrous (especially as these guys were hanging out together):

Listening to Bob Kauflin Teach is like drinking from a fire hydrant” (via Shannon Lewis)

Listening to mark dever teach is like drinking from a fire hydrant” (via Brad Loser)

Enjoy the rest of the conference, guys, and thanks for sharing with us!

I hope you’re all enjoying a lovely Tuesday morning!  I wanted to point you to a few resources today:

From the Rebelution: Brett Harris just posted this great article on worship. Very cool to see the younger generation stepping up.

National Worship Leader Conference: If you’re like me and have a hard time getting to any worship conferences lately, you can “go there without going there” in a couple of different ways.  A couple worship leaders I’ve connected with are currently attending the National Worship Leader Conference in Austin, TX.  Jim Drake is keeping a pretty regularly updated twitter feed. And Fred McKinnon will be blogging and posting to his twitter feed as well.  Slake, Worship Leader magazine’s new blog, will be blogging from the conference as well.

Also, I will be preaching at our church this week.  For the rest of the week, I’ll blog on thougths that God leads me to as I prepare for the message.

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!