i am an offering

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.

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.

I have one chapter left in Worship Matters. I will be posting an extended review on Thursday of this week. In the meantime, I thought I’d share some highlights from a chapter in a section on “Right Relationships” dealing with the relationship with “Your Team.”

Creating Culture that Has Lasting, Positive Impact

Bob Kauflin shares “five ways to think about your team that will help you ask the right questions and pursue the right solutions.” They are:

• Establishing your team - creating a culture.
• Encouraging your team - creating a culture of gratefulness.
• Equipping your team - creating a culture of growth.
• Evaluating your team - creating a culture of humility.
• Enjoying your team - creating a culture of joy.

What can be Done?

For those of you on our team (I use the word loosely, as we haven’t officially established one yet, but you are all team-members, nonetheless!) at Living Word, how can I improve in any of these areas? I know I don’t encourage you nearly enough, and there are definitely untapped opportunities for us to just enjoy each other more often, but how else can I help in these areas?

For those of you with your own teams, what have you done in these areas that has made a difference?

Where do you find your confidence?

God has blessed me with natural talent. Learning a new song and memorizing songs come very easily for me. Remembering chord progressions and talking while I play are two things that I don’t have too much trouble with. But I’m saying this not to boast, but to tell you that it’s probably my biggest downfall when it comes to trusting Christ.

I often think that I can do things on my own, without God’s power. I often think that because things come easily to me, I don’t have to prepare or practice or rely on the Holy Spirit. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

What do you depend on?

Bob Kauflin, in his new book Worship Matters has a very encouraging and convicting chapter on the power of the Holy Spirit. As I’ve read his book so far, this chapter has been one that stands out at me the most. In it he writes:

So here’s the question: How much do you pray? Do you pray for his guidance before you start planning for Sunday? What do you place more trust in-God’s power or your performance? Do you toss up generic prayers like, “God, please bless our time today?” Or do you pray specifically, asking the Spirit to reveal Christ to everyone gathered, to help the congregation sing with understanding, and to bring forth fruit in people’s lives? (pg. 83)

Granted, Bob is talking about a worship leader praying for various aspects of a worship service, but how often do we do the same thing in our lives? How often do we not pray before we start our day? How often do we place more trust in our performance then God’s power? How often do we pray generic prayers of “God, please bless me today, or bless so-and-so today,” without getting very specific. God cares about the details.

Bob goes on to say these very convicting statements:

Confessing our utter dependence on the Holy Spirit should produce a deep sense of gratitude, humility, and peace in our hearts. It should free us from anxious thoughts about how smoothly the service will flow, whether or not the sound system will feed back, and how people will respond to us. (pg. 83)

Again, if we apply this to our own everyday lives, utter dependence on the Holy Spirit should free us from anxious thoughts about anything and everything.

So how about you? Are you finding your adequacy in God? Or are you finding yourself self-sufficient without an utter dependence on Him? Let us become God-sufficient, knowing that He is so much more than enough for all we could ever ask or imagine.

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.