I recently did an informal, unscientific survey. As official as that sounds, the results I found were interesting. I asked several random people around our local mall what they look for when looking for a church to go to. Of the twenty people that answered my question, an astounding seventeen of them answered with something that has to do with production value. Two of them said it was the community they look for and ONE said that they look for; and to quote them exactly, “a place where I can feel God’s presence.” Continue Reading…
Refill or Overflow?
The Cross
In the spirit of Easter, naturally I was reflecting a lot lately on The Cross and what it represents. All my life I’ve heard dozens of renditions of what the cross represents. However, this Easter, my reflection time was accompanied by a new song by Paul Baloche titled The Same Love. Some of the song lyrics says the following:
“The same love that set the captives free, the same love that opened eyes to see, is calling us all by name, You are calling us all by name. The same God that spread the Heavens wide, the same God that was crucified…”
Continue Reading…
Picking a Worship Set
One of the neat things about being in ministry and being a worship pastor, is that there is not really a “most successful route” on how to develop your ministry (so long as God gets the glory). Maybe that’s why I love it so much. The beautiful thing about ministry is that there isn’t a level you get to and say, “Ah, we finally made it,” or “We are the best at…” Because in my opinion, there is a difference between a successful church and how many people attend your weekend services. But that’s another post…
Vertical Worship
A few weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity of taking my worship department from Life 180 Church here in Phoenix to Fullerton, CA for a worship seminar hosted by Paul Baloche. While there, we learned and was reminded of some great elements of worship.
One of the great points that I took away was this quote, “Sing the Psalms, pray the songs.”I just think that is such profound wisdom in terms of worship.
But through this seminar, I was reminded of a philosophy that I have held for a long time, and was re-affirmed this at the seminar. And that is that there is a difference between worshiping yourself and leading a congregation in worship. Continue Reading…
