Community worship celebration

Tonight I had the opportunity to sing on the Praise Team and Chorus for the Thanksgiving Celebration at FCC. I was asked to sing bass to fill in for their guy who was sick. Man, I haven’t sung below middle C in a year! But it’s amazing what you can do with a microphone. :-) LOL It was a great evening. It was wonderful to see so old friends and somany different churches working together to bring praise to His name! It’s very sad when you reflect on just how segregated we Christians are from each other. It was great for everyone to experience the different worship styles. I know that the a cappella set was a stretch for the instrumental folks, and vice versa. It was interesting to see how each group handled tweaking what they normally do to accommodate others. The instrumental folks were amazed when the choir would sing in parts and the a cappella folks had to learn to rely a bit more on feel and not be so tied to the printed music page (since parts weren't written for several songs)

I told both Guy (FCC’s Minister) and the minister from New Whiteland Christian, that I hope this is the first of many of these types of events. How much more good could be done if Christians would work together, celebrating what we share in common and sharing what makes us unique?
Anyway, I have an early morning, so I’m off to bed. Boy, I sure to miss the girls. Everyone was asking about them tonight. I was hoping Kyra would miss Daddy so much that she would have to call and talk to me…but no such luck. Hey, she’s probably in heaven with Mamaw and all the attention :-)

Looking forward to a great day of worship in the morning…

Friday

It sure is quiet without the girls around. It’s sort of refreshing, but I sure do miss them! I’ll be going up to join them in MI Wednesday evening. It looks like I’ll be helping out with the praise team at the Franklin Church of Christ, Friday and Saturday evening for their Worship Celebration. It’s a community event with various worship ministries from the local churches (non C of C's). I think it’s awesome that FCC is sponsoring it. I am amazed at what God is doing in that place. A few years something like that wouldn’t even be considered (I know, I tried :-), but now it’s so natural. It seems as I get older (another blog entirerly, as this weekend is my 10 year high school reunion...is there such thing as a 1/4 life crisis? LOL) my tolerance for the whole "instrumental music" hangup is quickly reaching it's limit. Obviously, with my background with various bands and worship ministries, I have always felt a bit out of place in the C of C...but I digress :-)
I must admit, I sometimes get bummed out that so much changed after I left FCC. I know it didn’t change because I left, just the timing of it all. A few weeks after I left, they had a split and since then have really experienced a freedom. We were over at one of their Shepherd’s house for Halloween and he said, “You would love it now Steven…it’s so much more of the church you wanted.” That makes me super excited to see God at work, but it’s sort of depressing at the same time. Anyone who has gone through something similar can identify I’m sure.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to worshipping in that environment this weekend. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Here’s another entry from our 40 Days Journal. I just love the C.S. Lewis quote below. I’m still chewing on it …

The Heart of Worship

“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because he made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be…It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.” - C.S. Lewis

Have you ever taken one of those personality profiles? Angela and I did as we went through pre-marriage counseling. Needless to say, she still married me :-)! Each and every one of has unique personality. Actually, we use words like unique in describing personalities that really bug us. But isn’t it refreshing to know that God made you, uniquely you, to reflect who He is?
I like to daydream. And one of my dreams is that North Central would be a place where each of us expresses our true personality. What will this look like? I can’t really say. But I know it will be a place where we each express our love to and for God in our own unique way. Ministry will mean much more than participating in a few traditional programs. We’ll use our God-given gifts in teaching, sharing, art, listening, building, music, and countless other ways we never dreamed possible. We won’t all look or act the same, but each of us will be so in love with Christ, that we will truly be ourselves.

- What’s one area of my life where I need to be more “my God-self”?

1st family photo

It's sort of sad, but this is our first family photo! (besides the church directory :-) This was a last minute thing before the girls left for Michigan for the week. We didn't have time to coordinate our outfits or anything. I actually had to go buy a razor and shave on the way home from work. Boy, do I live with some good looking women or what ? :-) LOL
. .

what makes God smiles...

It seems that a huge paragraph was left out of the printed copy of this devo...so if you're from NC, here it is in it's intended form.


What Makes God Smile?

“Figure out what will please Christ, and then do it.” Ephesians 5:10 (MSG)

WOW! What a challenge. In Warren’s book, he talks about Noah. At first glance, Noah doesn’t seem like the best biblical candidate for an example of worship; David seems more appropriate. But looking deeper, we see that Noah provides a perfect example of bringing pleasure to God. David had the gift of music, a dramatic persona, a creative spirit (all the things we normally associate with extravagant worship) Noah had none of that…just a relationship. A relationship with his Creator. Hosea 6:6 tells us, “I don’t want your sacrifices – I want your love. I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.” (MSG) Knowing God, that’s what really brings a smile to His face. A few months ago, at the request of a member, we began singing the song, Knowing You. I must admit, at first sing-through, it wasn’t my favorite. For whatever reason, it wasn’t one of those tunes that I immediately identified with. I thought about storing it in the “North Central Archives” as one of those songs that just didn’t click. Then a funny thing happened, I actually read the words! It hit me. What profound lyrics. Simple, yet able to state exactly what I want my heart to say to Him.

“Knowing You, Jesus, Knowing You
There is no greater thing.
You’re my all, You’re the best,
You’re my joy, my righteousness.”

Each week, I get to see a mixture of expressions on your faces as we worship together. I see excitement, sorrow, joy and sometimes yes…apathy and boredom. But a few months ago, we sang this song. I looked out at you all as you sang, and I saw tender hearts. You may not have known it, but the room was filled with tears. At the sight of your faces, I almost couldn’t make it through the song myself! I’m sure those tears were expressed for a variety of different reasons…joy at what God had done that week, or sorrow for realizing that those words might not be true in your own heart. But I like to think that perhaps they were tears of realization. Realization that there is no greater goal in life than a relationship with Him! That like Noah, no matter what I can or can’t bring to the table, all He really wants from me is me.

- How can I get to know God better today?

planned for God's pleasure...

I figured I would cheat this week and publish the thoughts I wrote for this week's "40 Days of Purpose Devotional/Journal" on Worship. I may write some other stuff too, but it's amazing as I read this daily devos, how even the ones I penned speak to me with what I need to hear from Him...just goes to show you, it's a God thing!


Planned for God’s Pleasure

“You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11 (NLT)

It was an amazing revelation to me when I first realized the truth of this passage. Everything, everything is created for God’s pleasure! What were you doing before you started reading these thoughts? Cooking, cleaning, driving home from work, playing with your kids, arguing with your spouse, surfing the internet, attending a North Central worship gathering? What was it? No matter what it was, it was worship. But who was it you were worshipping? I don’t know about you, but that puts the daily events in my life in a completely different perspective.
Part of my job title is Worship Minister. At some churches, that position is referred to as Music Minister. I think that shows just how distorted our view is of what worship is. Worship is much more than music. Worship is much more than the few minutes we sing on Sunday mornings. I have given myself a challenge. I want to do all I can to help you worship. That may mean you pouring your heart out to Him in musical expression. It may mean challenging you to even deeper heights and depths of experiencing God’s love. It will mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people…but regardless, it will mean all of us growing together to a greater understanding of Romans 12:1
“Take your everyday, ordinary life- your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering.” (MSG)

- In what ways have I expressed my love to God today?
Am I OK with that?

the never ending story...

It’s been a week since my last entry. I’m covering a lot of ground, so I warn you…this is going to be long!

What a weird week! It started off on such a high note, and ended on such a low note. Last Sunday, we began our 40 Days of Purpose campaign. It was a busy weekend as we worked to get everything ready for the kick-off. Sunday was just such a wonderful day. The banners looked great, the devotional/journal books turned out wonderfully, the praise team sounded superb, everyone really sang out, David hit a home run with his lesson and illustration. Both worship services were so powerful. Although I know that the Spirit’s presence is always among us, I really felt it last week. Then came Sunday night’s the gathering.
I spent all of Sunday afternoon setting up for the special kick-off. With some help, we moved all the seating out of our rear section and set up little “rooms” with some curtain dividers. 3 stations were set up, Communion, Community Prayer, and the Mosaic. As people walked in, I tried to “set the mood” differently than what we usually experience. Usually, announcements are scrolling, it’s loud and everyone is talking. Not bad at all…I just wanted to create a sense of reverence and expectation. Lights down, soft music playing, candles in the Communion station…Here’s the text of what people got as they walked in, it does a pretty good job of explaining everything

Station Guide

These stations are designed to bring us closer together as the community of Christ.

Communion: As you enter this station, notice the lack of seats. As the body of Christ here on earth, we are in this together. Please grab one of the self guided devotional sheets and get with one or more people. This would be a great time to grab your spouse or someone from your One Another Group. Take some time and read together the scriptures and thoughts on the sheet, and then share in communion together. Please put your cup back in the trays on the table when you are done.

Community Prayer: As you enter this room, look for one of your One Another Group leaders. Together with anyone else from your group, spend some time praying for each other and your group.

Mosaic: In this station you will help build a mosaic symbolizing all the different gifts we as body contribute to North Central. Take a moment and think of one (or more) things that you can contribute to this church family. (teaching, encouragement, financial support, fixing cars, music, working with children, etc.) Anything, the more specific the better, that you can add to the body of Christ at North Central is appropriate. Then write that item on the piece a glass available at the table. These pieces will then be added to the mold to create a beautiful mosaic community art. See the ladies at the table if you have further questions.

Once you have completed your round of the stations, you are invited to sit in the center seating section and mediate or pray. There will be various scripture passages to consider on the screen. Please be courteous to others who will be meditating too and save conversations for after the service.


Here was the order:

“the gathering”
November 7, 2004

Praise Team Song
“For All You’ve Done”

Welcome/Prayer – Steven

Reading from the Word – Russ Palmer
Ephesians 4:1-16

Talk – John Brehm (testimony of community)

Doxology
Blessed Jesus
The Lord is in His Holy Temple
We Fall Down/Holy, Holy, Holy

Description of Stations
Stations

We Are the Body of Christ
Blessed Be Your Name

Prayer

It was just such a great experience. The atmosphere was right, and although we didn’t do anything radical, everything just felt different…special. I couldn’t believe the response to the prayer station. I had the opportunity to walk around and see some of what the Spirit was doing with those prayer groups…powerful stuff! And the Mosaic turned out great. A great illustration of the body of Christ. I’ll post a pic soon.

Then, the downward spiral. Monday was awful, just a bunch of “junk” happening, my palm pilot died (not a big deal, I know…but my life is in that thing) it took me almost 2 hours to get home from the church, etc, etc. Not big stuff…just annoyances.

The rest of the week went pretty much the same. Nothing devastating, just an annoying week. Then the weekend. Friday night was awesome! Angela does these Mystery Shopping things. Basically, she get’s paid to go and “test out” stores, restaurants, etc. This time, she was asked to shop The Bonefish Grill. This is pretty fancy place (by our standards) that we really could never afford to eat at otherwise. Not only is our meal paid for, but she gets a few bucks as well. It was so much fun! Since I had Stepping Up all day Saturday (more on this later) and Angela had a training seminar to attend, we left Kyra with the grandparents and went out for a date! We were already on the north side for dinner and since we both had to be up here very early Saturday, we stayed at the Coers’ house. I love them! It’s been awesome to begin forming relationships with people like them at NC. Both Angela and I have made some dear friends in a pretty short period of time. Late night, early morning…on with the show.

This weekend was our Stepping Up Weekend. It was titled a time of praise, perspective, prayer, and planning. We started off Saturday morning with a wonderful worship time. Then we moved onto sharing. All in all, it was a positive time; just not quite what I was expecting.
After, I received some news that is still bothering me. Without really getting into it, please pray for me. No, I’m not getting fired or anything like that (that I know of) just some things that I’m uncomfortable with, some things that have been bothering me and trying to work through…your basic church politics. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep very well, got up and headed to the building. I had been asking that God would work through the situation for His glory and to use me this morning despite my less than “all smiles” inner self. I was feeling confident, not in myself, but in His perfect and divine will and purposes. Then the continuation of the attack started Sunday morning. Not an attack from a person or situation, but Satan. I fired up the projectors, one worked the other didn’t. I went upstairs to find the lamp light blinking. This usually means the bulb is out. These things are only a few months old! I quickly started working on trying to see if I could “reboot” the thing and get going…but nothing. It was now getting close to start time for our early service. The Praise Team (for the most part) had arrived on time this morning and was working on some of the music. I really needed and wanted to be with them, but was frantically trying to fix the stupid projector. I finally got the bright idea to get our portable one and set it up…it wasn’t the perfect solution, but at least it would project an image. (Yes I know we have another one on the opposite side of the stage…I’m just spoiled, and didn’t want anything to distract our worship time)

Anyway, I only got to sing with the PT for a few minutes and we spent some time in prayer. I still had to get my mic on, find my belt (up in my office), etc. 8:30, we started, but honestly, my mind was not quite focused. Although I had spent “quiet time” with God on my long drive, as soon as I stepped in the building, I had been in “work” mode. Not quite with-it yet, I skipped over our intro video (oops), launched into the 1st song and pitched “Ancient of Days” a bit too high (though still manageable). After “You’re the One” it was time for me to stop and pray. Good idea! I then spent some time sharing some from John 4 and how our worship is not about what we do in this room, but what we do daily. The Message translation says that God is looking for people that are being truly themselves before Him. I didn’t plan on doing any of this. Actually what I had planned wasn’t able to happen for various reasons, but I shared a great quote from C.S. Lewis that I used in this week’s 40 Days devotions…

“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because he made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be…It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.” - C.S. Lewis

After a challenge to be more our “God-selves,” we sang “The Heart of Worship”.

I got lost in the worship. Not in a bad way, but for the next few minutes, as we sang “Come, Let us Worship and Bow Down” and “Glorify Thy Name,” I wasn’t thinking about leading, just worshipping. I was on my knees. It felt good to be there. I needed to be there.

Although I hadn’t been paying much attention to everyone else, I felt God’s presence in that room. And then, another distraction. Howard got up to lead our communion thoughts and his mic didn’t work. Luckily, with our great acoustics, you could still make out what he was saying…but what an ill-timed distraction. As it turns out, it was my fault (usually is) because we had moved the podium for Stepping Up to another location and I swapped the inputs at the board, so the sound guys wouldn’t be confused…but forgot to put it back. During the passing of the bread, I realized what had happened and we got it fixed before he went back up. It was just another thing to bug me. I know that all of these things, except one, are not a big deal…all trivial things that shouldn’t matter. But with my perfectionist disposition and happening on top of each other…I just have to learn to handle it better. Luckily, I do a pretty good job of containing that upfront…so I don’t think many people except those who really know me even noticed. And that’s good, because putting focus on myself or anything other than Him is the entire thing I’m trying to avoid.

Actually, as I type, I realize that even the “big one” that kept me up and has been the source of so much prayer, is really trivial. It’s trivial that I’m even dealing with it. That’s what bugs me the most…I’m only 28 years old and feel like I’ve spent, wasted is a more accurate word, so much time on these “issues.” If these things would just cease to be issues, how much more time could I spend on ministry?

Anyway, David delivered a powerful message that I needed to hear as much as anyone else. I am loving that he is using such cool object lessons in this 40 Day’s series. That’s the stuff that connects with me.

2nd service was fine…the in-laws came again. I’m glad they like to visit NC. We went to Bucca Di Beppos for lunch. Sorry to all who love that place, I just don’t like it. Our food took forever and I don’t even like Italian food that much.

I am looking forward to Monday. Fresh starts. Isn’t that part of what a relationship with Christ is all about?

hot date!

What a wonderful evening! Angela went over to a friend's house to play cards (I hate cards, I don’t know why. I just always have) and I can’t stay out late anymore on Saturdays with an early service. So it was time for some one-on-one with Kyra! We played outside a while, and then we loaded up and went to Chick-Fil-A. I LOVE that place. I promised Kyra she would get to play there and get ice cream, so all was well. We ate, had some good conversation, and then went to the ultimate indoor playhouse. (OK, it’s not exactly the “ultimate” but I’ve found the bigger I make stuff, the more she excited she gets) She played in that thing for an hour. At first it was cool, it was the just the 2 of us. Then an older boy came and joined. At least I thought it was a boy. I kept telling Kyra to make room for the boy on the slide, share with the little boy, etc. Finally, after probably the 10th comment, the “boy” turns and says, “I’m not a boy…I’m a girl. I just have boy hair!” Oops! I hate it when that happens.

Anyway, shortly after, another girl Kyra’s age joined in. It’s amazing to watch Kyra with other kids. I realize how lucky Angela and I are. Kyra’s polite, doesn’t scream, and is generally pretty well behaved. After about 45 minutes, there was a ton of kids in that place. It started to stink and I could just "feel" the germs! So after going down the slide for the 100th time, it was time to get out of there and get some ice cream. We both shared a kid’s cup and then made our way home. We had a great bath time and then the bed time ritual. Kyra first asked for a story. That doesn’t mean I read a story, but that I make up some wild story about her as a princess playing with Dora the Explorer. After that, it’s prayer time and song time. Tonight we sang “Here I am To Worship” (Here I Am to Wushipp), “This is how we overcome” (Dis is How wee overtum!) and “go to sleep”…all her choice.

It’s great to be a dad. Angela and I were talking about having another one sometime soon. But I’m just so afraid I’ll miss something with Kyra if that happens. I know, everyone says you don’t…but I’m just getting used to this!

Off to bed…Sunday is a big day!

busy, busy, busy

What a week it’s been! It’s been a crazy few days. Sunday was a whirlwind of 2 services, birthday parties, and carting Kyra around town showing off her cuteness (see previous post). I couldn’t sleep Monday night. I stayed up till 4 am on Tuesday due to some election or something. (Boy, am I glad that mess is over) Needless to say, I’m starting to drag. And this weekend is going to be even busier. We are starting our 40 Days of Purpose series this week and I’ve been working on getting things ready for that. I really think it’s going to be great. Our shepherds have prepared a devotional book to accompany this series. They offer lots of great insight into their character and leadership in Christ. It turned out that one of them wasn’t going to be able to contribute, so I took the task of writing the devos on Worship. Sitting down to write those really made me think about where I am in my worship to Him. I hope they do the same for others.

So between the 40 days and getting our Christmas Eve service organized, we are also starting a “new” thing this Sunday evening called the gathering. Actually, our One Another groups have always met on the 1st Sunday for a devotional, but we decided to change the format a bit and offer something unique. It’s sort of a half-baked attempt at a postmodern type service, but I think it will really be special. We’ll have several stations set up around the New Life Hall for various activities and worship activities. All are great, but my favorite is the Mosaic Station. A few of our very talented artists have designed a glass mosaic mold that looks like our One Another logo. The plan is that each person will get a piece of glass and write on it something they can contribute to the body at North Central. Then they will place that piece into the mold. When it’s finished, we’ll have a beautiful community art mosaic to hang in the building. I’m sure my description is not doing it justice…so come out and join us Sunday evening! The theme for the evening is community. We’ll have some special music (For All You’ve Done), readings and a short lesson to focus our minds and hearts on becoming the community God intended. I’m really looking forward to it…but I have a lot of set-up to do before then. I’ve got to re-arrange the seating to allow for the different stations, set up the stations, print scriptures and meditations for the communion station...lots to do.
On top of all this, our entire row of stage lights on the left side has gone out. This building is brand new and they are all out! Of course, we don’t have a lift, and the stage lighting people have not been very prompt at getting out here. I’ll probably just tell everyone that’s going on the stage to stay right :-) LOL

Praise Team practice starts in ½ hour, so I’m going to go make sure I’m set for that. Have a blessed Thursday evening.

our angel

Just had to share a pic of Kyra in her outfit. God is good!