Mondays Are Back...

Some of you know that I am officially finished with my worship commitment over at the Immerse Bible Study. I thought it would be good to thank the Immerse team and maybe even try to process some of my thoughts on worship the past couple of months.

• THANKS! I cannot thank Randy Prosperi and Ross Conner enough for this awesome opportunity...it was an absolute pleasure to serve on Monday nights. Both of these guys are passionate about serving college students in the Tyler area and I'm glad to have partnered with them in that! In addition, I've been encouraged by students like Scott Conaway, "Dal," AdrianA. and Danielle who are so faithful to serve each week. And I can't forget our musicians...Andrew Pulley, Paul James, Jason Scott, Dale Bradley, Aaron Laird, David Moody and Justin Romack all added their considerable talents to worship and it made a huge difference.
  
  
• I've learned a lot over the past few months. I've been challenged by the need to get to know a new crowd quickly and to work toward finding songs that "work." This is always a hard balance...finding songs that people like but also serving those people as a pastor. I've enjoyed their passion. The Immerse crowd is diverse - but one consistent element is their passion for the Father. I've been inspired by that.
  
  
• I'm glad to have my Monday nights back! I've loved doing it, but it will be nice to spend Monday nights at home again!
  
  
• I've got nothing but good things to say about this experience...some folks have asked about my "leaving." Let me assure you that all is well. This transition out was talked about long before I started, so it wasn't any huge shocker. I look forward to hearing (and hopefully seeing-in-person) more great things about Immerse on Monday nights!

Thanks to all of you who have watched the online broadcasts, asked me about Immerse, commented on blogs, etc.

Who knows what I'll take on next....

Immerse Recap

First off, thanks so much for all of those who have asked how the kick-off for Immerse went on Monday. I apologize that I couldn't blog it up Monday night, but I had a retreat Tues-Wed and I just ran out of time.

I'm trying to edit some video of the worship, but that may have to wait until I can steal some time from something else!

Immerse went great. First off, the band did a wonderful job. Romack and Paul James held down drums and bass and Andrew Pulley, an Immerse guy, did piano. Andrew is very good and I'm looking forward to playing with him more. Romack and Paul were, of course, spot-on.

Not counting band and other volunteers, we had around 40 kids there. It felt great - laid back, casual, and the students were both respectful and passionate during the song set. For our first one of 2009, we were trying a couple of things...

1. New sound system. We opted for a smaller, more portable setup. I think it allowed for the crowd to hear themselves better during worship. I brought a couple of powered monitors and they worked great.
2. New stage. As you'll see below, we're on a small stage. The building we rent for this has a bigger, theater-style stage, but once of Immerse's founders built a great stage that was about half-as-tall as the normal staging. Made the service feel a lot more normal and cool that way, in my opinion.

We'll see what next week holds. I've got to put a setlist together as soon as possible and I'm hoping that I'll get the chance to get to know some of those kids better next week. For the rest of the week, I'll be posting a few video clips of the worship set...in case you enjoy watching such things. You might have to crank volume a little to hear Paul and Andrew...they both did good, but I'll probably have to bump them in the house a bit next week.

ON COLLEGE...

Let me first thank those of you who commented on the WCMS series. I really do have some sharp readers and I appreciate the perspectives you all bring to the table.

I think the comments given were great - many of them being great lead-ins to more conversation and study about what the whole issue of "parachurch" means.

I don't have the comment threads open in front of me, but I thought I might wrap this up by responding to some of the thoughts you guys shared. First, I'll throw my thoughts out there and then a follow-up question to see what you think:

ON PRINCIPALS
Are discipleship, accountability, Bible Study and prayer important elements in a believer's life? Absolutely. Is Immerse going to meet all of those needs? I'm not sure. Maybe they'll hit just one. But how does this disqualify them? Are we really going to take the attitude of you're-not-a-church-so-you-can't-do-these-things? Or is there some magic cutoff? ("Well, there's already a BSM and a Campus Crusade Office. So we don't need you.")

It seems that most of you are saying that a parachurch college ministry isn't "enough"...it's likely that a small ministry like Immerse won't be able to do all of those things. But how does that make it dangerous?

Please hear me...I understand what most of you are saying, but what I can't seem to grasp is the Great Danger in college students meeting together during the week to worship and study God's Word. I'm not trying to speak in favor of the sub-culture here, but if I come across 45 college students who want to spend the next 20 Monday nights digging into God's Word, I don't think the Church should be scared of that. I might be off here, but from the comments I'm picking up an overall suspicion or concern about parachurch ministry.

The Question: What are the negative effects of a college parachurch ministry in your experience? What's the logical extension of your concern...what can go wrong about services like this.

ON DISOBEDIENCE
I'll say this about the idea that parachurch ministry and youth groups and Beth Moore and women's Bible Studies are somehow an act of disobedience. (Which is interesting because now we're even talking about the local church more than a college ministry!)

When we came to Bethel, Kristen got involved in a Tuesday morning Bible Study and it has been life-changing for her. She has worked her way through the Old Testament, learning things, memorizing scripture, bringing that wisdom with her into worship and it has allowed my wife, a very shy person, to connect with other women of God in an amazing way.

My son and daughter are involved in a children's program every Sunday and they are NOT in our corporate worship service...and I wouldn't change it for the world. My kids are quoting scripture to me, they are praying things from God's Word and they cannot wait to get to church on Sunday morning.

The whole idea of keeping a church body all together all the time has merit...I truly don't want to mock that. But to imply that my church (and therefore my family) is in some form of disobedience to the Father is simply not true. I'm here. I'm seeing it first hand. And it's all kinds of obedient. (Titus 2:3-5)

One other thought that arises with the whole "fault" of separated ministries is this...if this is really a matter of college kids not having their heads on straight, then why does every church I can think of have trouble reaching and keeping this crowd?

I'm not kidding. This isn't a one church problem, guys. How's the college turnout at your place? 'Cause at my church, it could be a whole lot better. We've got great young adults, but they're kinda' outnumbered.

The Question: Is it possible that college students at churches in Tyler and Lufkin and Houston and Denton and Jacksonville are ALL being punks and not committing to the church? Or is there a possibility that we could be doing things better?

THE REALITY
Here's what I know...

I've been asked to lead worship for a ministry that wants to give college students a great opportunity to study His Word. And in accepting that invitation, I take on a responsiblity...a responsibility to lead worship that is God-honoring and Biblical in a Christian culture that is filled with random spiritual cliches set to music that tickles the ears but does nothing for the mind.

Now, I may go lead at Immerse and hate it and do my three weeks and then head for the house...or God may take control of my schedule and do something totally different...those are all possibilities. But if college kids want a time and a space to worship God and to learn what He has to say, then those of us who care and who are smart and gifted of God better step up and get involved. That's my take.

As I mentioned, I totally get what you guys are saying. And in truth, I agree with about 85% of what you're saying...

AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHY I'LL BE THERE ON MONDAY NIGHTS.

Ministry is messy and some would say college ministry is even messier. God's asked me to get messy for the next three or four Mondays and I'm going to do it. And I couldn't be more excited.

Again...thanks for getting involved in conversations like these. They help more than you'll know. I covet your prayer over the next few Mondays. I want to walk in way that pleases the Father.

WHY COLLEGE MINISTRY STINKS, Part 4

As I prepare to start leading worship for "Immerse," a city-wide college Bible study, we're looking at common challenges within college ministry. I'd love to know what you think about these posts...what you've seen, learned, experienced through ministries like this.

The Church Is The Thing

Challenge #4 is a tough one....how do we plug students into the local church?

A few you have commented on this, and while I don't think that events like this are necessarily disrespectful to the role of the local church, I will agree that "para-church" ministries often fail at actually supporting local churches.

Here's what I like about Immerse (and about college ministries like it)...

I like that the folks at Immerse are taking worship onto the campus. I like that there's a place where Christian students can go to pray, be held accountable to some other believers and study God's Word. Isn't this the same sort of premise behind student associations on college campuses? (Wesley Foundation, Baptist Student Ministry, etc.?)

But meeting on Monday nights isn't "church"...even at its ideal, Immerse simply cannot do all the things that a church can do. And I don't think we should.

So, how do we use our time to get kids invested in a local church family?

I HAVE NO IDEA.

I'm being serious. With these other issues I've mentioned, I've seen things work...I can look back on my experience and share those tips and ideas that seem to be a consistent benefit.

But local church? I'm don't know. I just know it's hard. Here's why:

1. Which Church?
   Doing this is difficult because I really can't step up on stage and say something like, "You need to be plugged into a local church. BETHEL BIBLE CHURCH MEETS SUNDAYS AT 9 AND 10:30 WITH SERVICES. FIND US AT BETHELBIBLE.COM."
   
   It's a difficult thing, knowing that you need to encourage kids to have a home church and yet also knowing that you're unable to recommend one specifically. You end up speaking in generalities...which really doesn't work in this situation.
   
   
2. How Do We Know?
   Let's say we find a way to do it...we find a way to offer up some vague, non-committal advertisement for being part of a home church.
   
   How do we know if it's working? What if our kids plug in somewhere and hate it? What do we do then? Respond with something like "Oh, yeah...that church sounds horrible. Okay, well, time to find a new one!"
   
   Doesn't seem very healthy, does it?
   
   
3. Is There A Payoff?
   The third problem is finding church support. Connecting with churches is hard in ministries like this...I don't know that Immerse is in any sort of competition, but I know sometimes that's a fear in situations like this one.
   
   Sadly, the idea of "payoff" ends up hurting here. As a minister in a local church myself, I understand this. If somebody calls me or mails me a letter to encourage my people to attend some event, my first thought is often, "What's in it for us? Is this part of my mission here in my church?" I don't think that's necessarily bad...I just think it's true.
   
   How do ministries like Immerse maintain the support of local churches when we really can't turn around and do specific infomercials for them?

You guys are smart...some of you may have seen this aspect before. How do we do better? How do we support local churches? How do they support parachurch ministries?

Can it be done?

Props to one of my new Tyler Twitter pals. Caleb Canal called this thing WCMS a few days ago. That's smart. I should have been calling it that all along! Dang it!

WHY COLLEGE MINISTRY STINKS, Part 3

As I prepare to start leading worship for "Immerse," a city-wide college Bible study, we're looking at common challenges within college ministry. I'd love to know what you think about these posts...what you've seen, learned, experienced through ministries like this.

Beware the Worship Junkie!

Challenge #3 in college ministry is all about Worship.

One common issue among city-wide college ministries is an unhealthy view of "worship." And I'm using in this context as most do...the songs, prayers, and stuff that happens in the first thirty minutes before the preaching. I don't think that's specific to college students - most folks default to the worship-as-music thing pretty easily.

In my experience, many college students don't feel like the worship at their home churches fits them. You hear phrases like I just can't connect with those songs or there's no life in our worship. I think there are a lot of reasons why college students think like this...and almost all of is pretty unhealthy...but it's still a reality. And because of that reality, ministries like Metro, Breakaway, Immerse, inject-your-trendy-service-name-here end up attracting all kinds of worship junkies.

These are kids who LOVE worship...they're passionate, they want to engage in music and creativity and they want worship to be something that's important...they want to know that their worship is "doing something." Those aren't bad things - those are good things. But what typically happens is that we've got a room filled with kids who've come to get goosebumps. And that's not healthy. For a lot of reasons.

So, how do we manage the worship junkies? What can worship leaders do to create a time that's reverent and right according to God's Word?

1. GO SMALLER
   "Going smaller" is the voluntary act of down-playing worship ad nauseam. Worship leaders can use a lot of practical tips to make this happen; in the large scheme we are trying to make it evident that our focus is on the words of God...and not ourselves. We've gathered to hear something that we know to be divinely inspired - not spending an hour singing songs that we think might be divinely inspired. Practically...
   
   Shorten your set. I know a lot of songs. That doesn't mean we need to sing seven of them...or sing three of them for 52 minutes. Shortening the set makes it evident that this form of worship is prepatory - it's leading us to something. Something holy and true and spoken by the Father.
   Change up the band. Put nine people on stage and your crowd is going to expect the All American Freedom Jam. If you think your crowd is prone to worship the worship, then use less instrumentation. Sit or stand closer to the crowd. Use less stage lighting. Make it clear that you're just a few folks who aren't rock stars who are doing this thing for the Father.
   Don't do covers. There's a great new Sanctus Real song called "Black Coal." It's awesome and I'd LOVE to play it sometime with a great band behind me. But it's not built for worship...it's a great concert song, but adding covers or show-off performances into your set is going to cause folks to think and talk and remember more about you and the band that what was actually preached from scripture.
   
   
2. USE SCRIPTURE
   Reading scripture in between songs is an obvious statement about why we gather together to worship in this way. And I'm not even talking about reading a scripture and then preaching on it for four minutes. (There's a time and place for that...but be wise about over-talking.) Hearing scripture in a set reminds folks that what we're doing is something that God tells us is important. It's important to Him and it's important for us.
   
   This isn't hard and fast...but we just need to be on the lookout for opportunities to make God's Word heard!
   
   
3. LIVE IT OUT
   The way we talk about our college ministries makes all the difference. If you lead worship one night and four people find you afterward to tell you how rockin' it was, be gracious...but also guard your heart. Praise like that can easily feed ego.
   
   If you're able, find ways to talk about the overall ministry...what's happening with the small groups or how the sermon series is working. Pray that God will give you eyes and ears to appreciate the whole ministry effort and not just your 30 minutes.

Okay...

A lot of you readers have played gigs like this one. How can we prevent "worshipping the worship?"

WHY COLLEGE MINISTRY STINKS, Part 2

As I prepare to start leading worship for "Immerse," a city-wide college Bible study, we're looking at common challenges within college ministry. I'd love to know what you think about these posts...what you've seen, learned, experienced through ministries like this.

Things Are Different Now...

Challenge #2 is Originality.

In most cases, college ministries like "Immerse" are targeted at students who are Christians. That's not to say that evangelism doesn't happen...but since it is a service with worship and Bible study, your typical draw is going to be kids with at least some measure of faith.

But I think that technology has positioned us in a very interesting place as we try to serve college students. (Not only college students, actually...I think the premise stays pretty consistent with most any group.)

Let me see if I can get real practical here...

When I was 19 years old, I was pretty committed to my faith. I was a devout kid...but I knew very little about theology. I had no idea about other teachers and pastors who were "movers and shakers" in the world of religion, and specifically, Christianity. The spiritual formation I had was a good one, but not a broad one. I was under the care of great pastor and teacher in a healthy church, but didn't have a lot of other scriptural influences in my life.

That's not the case, now. Thanks to tech developments - the biggest being the emergence of podcasting - people are exposed to many more viewpoints about God and personal discipleship. These days, in a given college ministry setting, you've got kids who have an appreciation for the works of John Piper, and by that connection, even "old dead dudes." You've got students passionate about recent prayer movements across the country. Some are convicted about social justice and what that really means to a Christian.

I would submit these are good developments, but here's where they hurt us...

WE CAN'T FAKE THIS ANYMORE.

Let's be honest. Fifteen years ago, you could plagiarize an Ed Young Jr. sermon...and nobody would know it. You could lift a chapter out of R.C. Sproul and they'd be none-the-wiser. You could regurgitate the exact transition between two worship songs from a "popular" worship CD and it would be all good.

I'm not saying that college ministry is filled with students who are all spiritual giants...I don't know many places filled with spiritual giants, as a matter of fact! But I do think we've got kids are so much more "informed" than they used to be.

There are some who would bristle at an encouragement for "originality." Some would say that we are speaking/preaching/living out an ancient word...and they would be right. But I would say that God has been gracious to give us the gift of creativity. We've got to use that...we've got to invest time in seeking what God would have us to say and we've got to work hard to make it our own.

And while our original work may not ever be as cool as some big shot on a CD or TV, I think making something our own...speaking it with honesty to the people we've been called to care for...will say volumes about both our investment in scripture and our passion for relationship with our crowd.

PS...on a completely unrelated note, all you RSS kids need to click over to the actual blog. I'm running a survey to convince my wife to loan me $60.

WHY COLLEGE MINISTRY STINKS, Part 1

As I prepare to start leading worship for "Immerse," a city-wide college Bible study, we're looking at common challenges within college ministry. I'd love to know what you think about these posts...what you've seen, learned, experienced through ministries like this.

Nobody's Got It All Together...

Challenge #1 in city-wide college ministry is one of Identity.

I'm not sure why it happens. I have my theories, but I'm not convinced.

I think perhaps the church in general has become a victim of marketing.

Somewhere along the way, the church started believing there was a model for everything.

Starting a new contemporary service? Buy this book.

Building a new sanctuary? Watch this DVD.

Feeling discouraged? Go to this conference.

None of those things are inherently bad, but I do think years of marketing have put into us this idea that the way to do ministry to find the guy who's doing it best and then copy him.

I've been to "Metro." And "Breakaway." I've listened to the Passion podcasts and watched online footage of these huge college ministries. They're phenomenal. They're awesome.

But they're probably not us.

The challenge of identity in college ministry is a tough one. We're trying to serve a group of people who are in the midst of making huge life decisions. That's an important time and it's hard to know how to best minister to these students. So many times...we just try a formula and hope it works.

HOW TO BEAT THE CHALLENGE

I'm not trying to imply that I have all the answers here, but I do think there are some things we, as ministers, can do to protect ourselves from suffering from a cookie-cutter mentality.

1. Stop Envisioning
   We all do this. We plan an event or a song or a sermon and then we daydream about how it's going to be. We try to imagine how many people are going to be there and what's the response gonna' be like. (Most of the time, we imagine the room full of screaming, adoring worshipping people.)
   
   Dreams are important and having an overall vision for your ministry is vital, but we've got to stop daydreaming. We've got to stop building up our services and outreaches in our minds because no matter how great the event is, it will most likely never be as great as we imagined.
   
   By staying focused and keeping envisioning to a minimum, we operate in a much more healthy and prayerful way and we just might end up surprised at what happens at our event.
   
   
2. Invest In Relationships
   Your college ministry is not going to look like Northpoint's. It's not going to feel like Northpoint's ministry feels.
   
   Know why?
   
   Because you're not Northpoint.
   
   The students in your ministry are unique...they bring a whole set of individuals skills and challenges and spiritual needs and unless we're willing to invest in getting to know them, we'll always being playing a game of chance when it comes to ministry. Rather than knowing our people, we're just throwing different styles at them, hoping that one of them will stick.
   
   If we'll invest in getting to know these kids, we'll find that a lot of the ideas we read about aren't really right for our people. And we'll also find that some tried-and-tested principles still apply. But we'll never know that if we don't make time for relationship.
   
   
3. Listen and Learn
   Some of us have very vocal students...if something isn't working, they let us know. Others have more quiet congregants. But if asked, even those quiet ones will probably speak honestly.
   
   If we're going to build an identity, we've got to learn from the students in our midst. I'm talking about doing more than just plugging them into some volunteer spot so they'll have "ownership." (Can you say buzz word, class?)
   
   I'm talking about having an open heart to these students...to approach conversations with the idea that it's YOUR job to learn something, and not the other way around.
   

HOW YOU CAN HELP

If you're a college student, you can do some amazing stuff to make sure our ministries are more healthy.

1. Call us on the Cookie-Cutter.
   If it's obvious to you that we're trying to copy somebody else, just tell us. Tell us that you see it and recognize it for what it is.
   
   Maybe encourage us a little, too, so we don't feel too horrible. But for the most part, just call us on it. Help us to know what parts of our services feel forced or trite.
   
   
2. Let us in.
   We want to get to know you. We want to learn from you. We want to hang out with you. We'll try not to be too weird and "old." We believe God's great stuff for you and we'd love to know what you think about that.
   
   
3. Speak up.
   We're gonna' forget to ask your opinion. That's a fact. We're gonna' get busy and distracted and every once in awhile, you may have to slow us down and help us process what's going on.
   
   It sounds silly, but worship is two totally different experiences based on where you're located. From the stage, I may think things are awesome...but out in the crowd, the service may be dying. So help us to know...we want to constantly learn and grow.

___

What about you all?

I know there's folks out there with college ministry experience!

Spill it...how can we do better in finding our own identity?

WHY COLLEGE MINISTRY STINKS, An Introduction

Over the next week or so, you'll be seeing and hearing a lot about "Immerse," a community Bible study for college students in Tyler, Texas.

While I am both honored and excited to be a part of this ministry, that's not necessarily fueling all the posts, videos and "tweets" you're going to be seeing.

I'm doing this because it's my way of asking you to walk with me in this and to help me.

Because it's hard.

In my experience, there are common "challenges" when trying to pull of something like Immerse is trying to do. And I commend them for it. I believe in it...I wouldn't be leading worship if I didn't. (Trust me...I don't like gigging that much. I play for places I can believe in!)

Over the next few days, I'll be looking at a few of these challenges from the perspective of a worship leader. Here's what I'm asking of you:

1. Comment. My perspective is mine alone. I'm just one dude and I'd love to know what your take on the whole issue of city-wide college ministry. Many, many of you are deeply invested in God's Kingdom and a lot of you spend a lot of brain power asking questions about our motivations and how we judge success.
   
   
2. Pray. I won't lie. I need prayer. I love leading worship and it's a big part of my life, but taking on a new place is always tough. I'm asking God to bless me in my ability to get to know the kids at Immerse and I'd be honored if you'd join me.
   
   
3. Talk. Services like these are not for everybody...but they are for somebody. I'm specifically asking those in the Tyler area to spread the word to college students who might benefit from a Monday night worship and Bible study time.

Personally, I'm not big on hyper-spiritual blogs. They tend to bore me. So I'll try to keep the posts practical and simple...so I won't bore myself!

As always, thanks for checking out the site.

And be back tomorrow for Part 1 - "Nobody's Got It All Together."

Upcoming...

I realize that my new cool new blog template is cutting the videos off along the right side. I'm sure there's a way to fix that, but I far too busy being a rock star to mess with right now. Maybe one of "my people" can work on it.


Upcoming Stuff from Todd Wright on Vimeo.

Thank goodness for blog readers, eh? Videos run fine in those!