BST's Blog

Well, one more successful night of sleeping girls. Maddie told me that Ella woke up this morning and came and got in bed with her. So sweet! They are really loving being together like that.

Last night Sheryl made the famous Chicken and Noodles...a.k.a. "sick soup". My aunt Dot and cousin Linda Thurber on my dad's side perfected this recipe. It was delicious! Mom came over and ate and brought fresh, hot gingerbread and real whipping cream. It was so yum!

I just finished putting the final touches on the order of worship for Sunday. I am really excited about it. ZOE will be leading with me and Teresa Newsome is coming over to be with us. Teresa travels with ZOE and does what I call "expressive sign". It is really so beautiful and helps me connect in worship. So many people are blessed by what she does. I am thrilled that she's coming!

Several of you have asked me to post parts of my letter to the praise team. I am thinking through how to do that. I think it might be helpful to some of you, but I want to be sensitive to our team here and not get ahead of myself. We have over 70 people involved in this ministry. Somehow, between now and the next 2 months, I have to schedule a meeting with every single one of them. I am looking forward to that, but it seems daunting right now.

Until I do post the letter--or portions of it--I'll just say this about it... I have become increasingly convinced and convicted of our need for a recommitment to strong leadership in our praise team ministry. Let me start by saying that this is an Otter Creek thing--not a pattern for anyone else. It's where God is leading US right now. Over the course of the last year our church has weathered some things. Building programs, malcontents, ministerial issues, etc. Those are for us to know about and deal with. God has brought us through 2004 and has set us in a new place--a new time and a new year. However, there have been days, as you've read me blogging about, when I have felt in my spirit that there was a cloud of heaviness or something over our church as we worshipped. Over time, the praise team began to mirror the church. With some exceptions--very little expression, communication, or feeling. I felt convicted by the Lord that to whom much is given, much is expected. God has gifted us with more talent than any church I know. More amazing vocalists, more incredible actors, painters, readers, instrumentalists, writers, etc. The list goes on and on. For several years now I have laid out a vision to our praise team calling them to something higher than just a singer. From the moment they step into this ministry they learn that they are looked to as worship leaders, not just singers. I don't want to get up on Sunday and be the worship leader with 8 back up singers. I want these gifted people to grow into ministry themselves. I felt it was time to take that to the next level.

SO--over the course of the next few months, given the year we had last year, I have scaled the team down to just under half of the original number. Not permanently-mind you. There are some who are already doing what I've written about. Even we need to be reminded of why we're up there. I want to start with those folks and allow them to be igniters. Beginning with those 30 or so, we can re-evaluate, re-energize, re-assess, and re-focus. I'm counting on them to set the tone. In the meantime, I am setting up visits with every single praise team member--even those 30--to talk about the vision and allow them to either say, "yes! I want to be a part of that!" or "No. I can't do that right now." Either way--no guilt, no pressure. I feel strongly enough that this is of the Lord that I know He will make it clear. It actually is very, very exciting. It's affording me the opportunity to get back into the lives of folks in my ministry, it's allowing us to all re-commit and be better leaders, and hopefully, in the end, it will bless the Body here.

That's the gist. I'll keep you updated. So far, I'd say the Lord has already worked powerfully through it. He's brought us to our knees--most all of us involved in this ministry. He's invigorated the teams the last couple of weeks, and He's providing grass roots leadership and energy during worship by those praise team members who aren't on the schedule that week. It's what we're supposed to be doing. It just got easy to exist with a schedule and format that worked. Even though this is more challenging (on all levels) and there is always the potential for misunderstanding, it will be worth it. All of it. I've had to make sure that I am communicating what this is about and what I am expecting. It's not about vocal talent. It's about leadership. It's not about any of us, it's about bold leadership in worship and being willing to put our comfort aside for the sake of honoring the majesty of Jesus.

One little example of how I am reminding us of this and then I'll shut up. Sunday, we talked more about this whole notion and what it means to lead worship. My point has been--many of us look either tired, scared, mad, or indifferent. None of those expressions leads people into worship. We're combating a history of being told we CAN'T express...so why should we be surprised. Anyway--I keep reminding us to inform our faces of what our hearts are feeling. What helps is thinking about the text of each song.(I'm also video taping each week's worship time just to have as a tool) Sunday as we rehearsed "This Is How We Overcome" I had to stop the team and remind them of the text. It helped them.

Worship expression is tricky. There's no "right" way. But--there should be something there. If thinking about what Jesus did for us, his majesty, his death, his resurrection, his healing, God's creation and the beauty of who he is--if that does nothing to us, something is wrong. And especially if you're leading worship. If you can't connect with some sort of feeling with regard to those things--gratitude, brokenness, joy, awe, sorrow, etc then you shouldn't be leading worship. I firmly believe that. There are times in life when all people can do is sit and soak in and trust that the person sitting next to them can sing on their behalf. I've had times like that. But--as worship leaders, we have a responsibility to minister--or at least offer a sacrifice of praise. When we're in that place of not being able to, we need to be better about exercising the right to have someone replace us that week, or month, or year, or whatever. Because, the reality is, at some point, all of us will have those days or seasons.

OK--I've already said more than I intended to. Like I said, this is not a prescription for any other church. It's what the Lord is doing here and what I have been convicted about in leading these 70+ people. He's given us much--MUCH. And He wants us to use it. The thought of 9 people fully engaged in leading worship on a Sunday morning is so cool and has the potential for really blessing our socks off each week. The thought of ALL of us--every single member of our church--coming with that attitude is even better--too incredible for words. After all, there is only ONE audience and He's worth every amount of energy, heart, expression, WORSHIP we can muster. Are we offering Him all we have? Or are we allowing the words to the songs we sing to blindly pass over our lips and our hearts to lie asleep in their beds of comfort and our fear of what the person down the row will think to dictate the offering of worship we bring before the King of Kings? It certainly convicts me.