TUNES

Okay, worship folks...let's do a little survey. Many of us have been ramping up to Easter - saying things like, "After Easter, I'll get to that." or "We gotta' work out that song after Easter!"

Now that a lot of you are recovering from Holy Week worship, I've got a question for ya!

What are some songs/videos/other art you're planning on bringing to worship in the near future?

Good Stuff...

Thanks to @chuckazooloo for sharing this great video from Mosaic church.

Worship (As) Prep...

I talk a lot about worship as preparation.

Back on a WCMS post, my friend Jason I. asked me to explain myself a little bit. I'm happy to do that, because I know I need to be intentional about making my thoughts clear when it comes to worship. Though so many churches have embraced "worship" and made it more of a priority (regardless of style,) many of us forget to spend time formulating our thoughts and making sure they are clear.

This may seem a bit boring, but I figured I'd tell you what I think about worship...what I believe it should do...what I believe it accomplishes.

1. Worship Is A Priority
   It's not that I forget this principle...I just tend to assume we're all in agreement on it. I believe God deserves praise - honest, passionate, reverent, unashamed adoration. Isaiah tells us (as do others) that God gets this non-stop in the Throne Room from the angelic hosts around Him. It's my belief that when the saints gather together, we are commanded to follow suit. We worship God with our songs and prayers and applause and silence because He is worthy of that. Plain and simple. Some folks call that "keeping the main thing the main thing."
   
   Worship is first and foremost about offering up our thanks and reverence to God. That aim ought to guide us...whether we're in a pew or on a stage or even alone with the Father. Personally, I think one of the best way to get in this mindset is to ask for God's help - His help in reminding us of the great things He's done; help in aiding us to recall what scripture says about Him; help in express our thanks in ways that are Biblical and reverent.
   
   
2. Worship Is Personal
   Worship is an amazing thing because, at its core, it's a personal thing. Even though we gather together corporately so often to do it, each of us bear a responsibility to come with our hearts and minds prepared.
   
   Lots of folks would agree that "worship is personal," but unfortunately, many of us don't to anything to get ready for it. We just roll in and start worshipin'! Worship leaders and pastors also bear a responsibility in this - we've got to do a better job of pastoring our people and teaching them how to set their minds on things above before the actual worship service ever starts.
   
   In addition, when you get a room full of people who have come prepared in this way leading worship is one of the easiest jobs in the world!
   
   
   
3. Worship Is Preparation
   Jason I. is right...this is a big one with me. Because worship is a priority and it's such a personal matter, it can often loom larger than any other part of a corporate gathering.
   
   Years ago, I got convicted about this...in my own life and in what I saw in so many churches and retreats and revival services, etc. God began to convict me that I was more concerned and excited and hopeful and focused on the singing of songs than the study of His Word.
   
   To understand this conviction, let me pause here for a little statement of belief - I believe God's Word is divinely inspired. I believe that the Father, in His power, communicated these words to His prophets. I understand that interpreting the Bible is a difficult thing...and I don't have all the answers...but my personal belief is that it is the Holy and Inspired Word of God. I believe that it is without fault or error.
   
   However, I don't believe that worship songs are without fault or error. Personally, I don't believe they are the inspired Word of God. I don't think they are sacred. Blessed of God? Absolutely, but not divine.
   
   As that belief about worship songs grew in my life, I was convicted that I was placing more of my time and energy on the words of man (which are susceptible to fault) instead of the Word of God (which is without fault in my own personal belief.)
   
   Because of that, I believe that acceptable worship is that which will prepare us and focus us for his Word. In my philosophy, worship that doesn't do that is lacking something vital. This can take lots of forms - preaching, collective reading of scripture or even the worship leader reading scripture before a song - regardless, I think it's so important for us to make sure that God's Word is proclaimed every time we get together. I'm not sure if that makes me a fundamentalist or a Bible-ist or some such other -ist or-ism, but that's me.
   

What about you? What's your worship philosophy? If you had jot down some statements or core beliefs about worship, what would you say?

Love to hear from you!

STAGE DAD

This is Finley performing last Sunday with "Snapshots," her Sunday morning class.


SNAPSHOTS Performance 12/14/08! from Bethel Bible Church on Vimeo.


She's on the far right.

Take note of a few things...

1. 00:11 to 00:44 - lays on floor, rest head right on floor monitor.
2. 00:44 to 01:39 - stands, mills around, sees Daddy's guitar, plays with stool.
3. 1:39 to 2:55 - tries to climb on stool, fails, dances, waves at Mommy, mills around.
4. 2:55 to 3:10 - tries to make a break for it.
5. 3:20 to 3:25 - walks over to Daddy's music stand, plays with pen. (Hear the laughter?)
6. 3:25 to 3:35 - volunteer Greg Kimmel dashes across the front and quietly encourages Finley to return to the group.
7. 3:39 - Finley glares at Greg Kimmel and shuffles back to Mrs. Cay. (Hear more laughter?)
   

The Process, Episode 2

The Process, Episode 2 (Advent Video) from Todd Wright on Vimeo.

The Process...

The Process, Episdoe 1 (Advent Video) from Todd Wright on Vimeo.

I Love Working Here..

A lot of folks (Tyler and otherwise) have asked how we're liking Bethel. Our answer is always the same.

WE LOVE IT.

One of the most fun things so far about working here has been making these little short video clips to send to our people (via Facebook, the blog, etc.) We've tried some goofy stuff so far, but this most recent one takes the cake. I couldn't believe how great my co-workers were about shooting something like this and every time I watch it I'm grateful for these very fun (and funny) people that God's placed in my life.



Bethel Encourages Its Congregation from bethel bible on Vimeo.

LarkNews Is Awesome...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — When Rivercreek Church introduced their newly hired executive pastor last Sunday, the congregation surprised him with a chorus of boos.

"I was startled, but given the economic climate I understand," says executive pastor Bill Evans, a longtime businessman who recently took the job.

Many executive pastors around the country are facing resistance, rumor and outright hostility from laypeople who see the hand of Wall Street reaching into their once-tranquil churches.

"I heard our new executive pastor worked for a Forbes 500 company in his previous career," says one man at a church in Ft. Worth, Texas. "We don’t need a golden parachuter around here."

At Rivercreek, rumors have circulated that Evans ran several companies into the ground, collected huge bonuses and went into church work because no one else would hire him. In fact, Evans left a successful company because he felt called to the ministry.

But many aren’t buying it.

"My first thought was, ‘If they’re hiring more pastors, we must be tithing too much,’" says Tom Rayburn, a member who had never heard the term "executive pastor" and doesn’t like "the Wall Street ring of it."

"If what I’m hearing about his sweet private sector retirement package is correct then he should be paying the church rather than the church paying him," Rayburn says. "I’d like to see our contract with him."

Others suggest that the church only hired an executive pastor because the senior pastor had been overspending and the board was reining him in.

"Why else would they bring in a controller?" says one woman. "We’re all asking ourselves, what did the pastor do wrong?"

One woman at a California church tried to find executive pastors in the Bible. The best she could come up with: Judas Iscariot.

"He handled Jesus’ finances," she says conspiratorially. "What are we to make of that?"

Back at Rivercreek some believe the senior pastor just wants to make himself feel important by "gathering a posse" around himself.

"He was never above balancing the church checkbook and hiring the janitors in the past," says Doris Rogers. "Why pay someone else to do it now except for pride?"

One thing unites them all: a fierce opposition to Wall Street shenanigans.

"I’ve had people come up to me in the foyer and say, ‘Don’t try any of that bailout stuff here, Mr. Executive Pastor,’" says Evans, who plans to lay low for a while. "It’s just not a great time to be an executive pastor."
Source: LarkNews

It should be noted that LarkNews is a fictional news site. The last time I linked an article from there, I assumed that my readers knew that. Oops.

It's made up. And it's hilarious.

The Bethel Story...Intermission

I've had a few folks who have asked me how we "knew" that Bethel was the place for us.

That's a great question...if you've ever served in a church or if you even been close to a minister, you probably know that leaving a church to take a new place is a pretty weird thing.

I believe God "speaks" in many ways, but for us and for this particular move, here's what led us to accept this position:

PERSONAL

• This is what grabbed us first and foremost...every person we met at Bethel seemed like a long lost friend. This may not seem overly spiritual, but from the very start and on the surface, Kristen and I both felt like we were meeting people that we would enjoy serving alongside.
• Bethel's mission was in-line with what I consider our family's ministry philosophy. I group that in the "personal" category because Bethel's mission was voiced by many different folks from many different walks of life. That encouraged us...we knew immediately that the leadership of the church had worked hard to instill in the congregants and understanding of the driving force for the church's existence.
• It should also be stated that the previous two factors were definitely present at First Methodist, too. Sure, Bethel's a little bit different from FUMC, but these same two ideas - friendliness and mission - reminded us of what we liked about First Methodist from our very first Sunday.

PEACE

• We left our initial visits very encouraged by what we had seen and heard. But, we wanted to be careful and spend time praying about our decision. We had lots of reservations, concerns, questions, etc., about leaving FUMC and Lufkin. As most of you know our parents and extended family live in Lufkin, so we were fully expecting this to be a tortured decision. And then...it wasn't. Kristen and I both instantly felt God's assurance that this move was right. It's as if we knew were supposed to be upset/scared/stressed, but God was giving us tons of peace. It was amazing.
• Through prayer, I also had a very real sense of peace regarding the future of FUMC. If you've read some of the "Bethel story" already, you know that Chris (from my team) knew what was up. God began to work ideas and plans in my heart and mind regarding Chris and the other members of my Sunday morning team

PARTICULARS

• As ministry goes, this new church had needs that fit right in my skill set. I have learned a ton of stuff at FUMC, especially in trying new things that I had no experience doing! It's been a great learning experience and I feel confident in taking those abilities to Tyler.
  
• While Tyler is a new town and a bigger place, it's still so close to family, which is important to us.
• A lot of folks have asked if I'll continue playing "gigs." I'm not sure. I enjoy heading out to lead worship as it provides a whole new set of challenges, approaches and rewards. In my time at FUMC, I tried to limit my travel dates so that I'd be able to serve on Sundays. In a new place, I'm sure I'm going to be very busy getting settled in and I have a lot of ideas about stuff to try at Bethel...I'm guessing that may push the gigging out of the picture for at least a little while.
• I'm excited to begin writing songs within a new church...I really enjoy getting to know the people and trying to write songs that capture where we are as a church.

Next time, we'll continue the actual story of Bethel...parts 3 and 4 get GOOD!

The Bethel Story, Part II

A few days after talking to Bethel's pastor, I was scheduled to preach in the Sunday morning contemporary service. That Sunday morning, I play acoustic in the band while someone else leads, and then I preached.

At some point during worship, I noticed two women out in the crowd. Their faces weren't familiar, but that's not all that strange. Our service at FUMC tends to bring a lot of guests, so I didn't think much of it.

But then, as I'm preaching, I noticed they were very intent on the sermon. My first thought was, "Wow! I am nailing this sermon," but then, knowing my sermon skills, realized that something was different about these two new faces.

After the sermon, our associate pastor stood and served communion. I noticed the two ladies took communion and were still very obviously watching what was happening on stage, pointing, assessing what was going on.

As soon as the service was over, I was on stage, packing up my gear, when my keyboard player, David, hands me a phone.

(I realize this sound very cool and rock and roll...as if members of my entourage regularly hand me phones at various times. The truth is that Kristen had our phone with her.)

I answer the phone and it's Chris, upstairs in the sound booth.

"That's Elizabeth from Bethel," he says. "And she's got the pastor's wife with her. They're headed up to the stage right now."

I hang up and turn around to see Elizabeth and Leslie Strader standing there.

After a few introductions, Kristen and I started asking a few things about Bethel. It was a little awkward...I didn't really know how conversations like that are supposed to go, but both Elizabeth and Leslie were so normal and down-to-earth that we were immediately at ease.

We found out some info on the church, thanked them for coming and then went on our way.

Later that night, I email Ross my resume and mention meeting Elizabeth and Leslie.

He emailed me back and we planned to talk on the phone sometime on Monday.

Over the next week, Ross and I talked on the phone a good bit. Again, the calls were mostly finding out about the church and the Wrights. I immediately liked Ross - seemed like a genuine guy trying to lead a church in way that honors God.

We began making plans for Krist and I to visit Bethel one day - just to check it out. Both FUMC and Bethel had pretty busy weeks ahead, but we finally nailed down a Friday to visit.

We packed up the kids and headed to the church.

We met with Ross, asked him about 10,000 questions, then went to lunch with the whole Strader family. (He took us to Double Dave's. That's a God-thing. How else could Ross know I have a serious crush on Double Dave's?)

After lunch, we headed over to the Straders' house. The kids played and we sat around for a little bit just getting to know each other.

As we left, Ross followed me out to the car and said,

"Pray about it. Call us if you're interested."

So we prayed. We felt a sense of God's peace and provision. A few days later, I let Ross know that we were definitely interested.

The Bethel Story, Part I

Had a couple of Skribit suggestions last week regarding my new position as worship pastor at Bethel Bible Church in Tyler. This may get a bit lengthy, but figured I'd give you the whole scoop!

Alright...I made my official announcement to the church yesterday. The Methodist church handles these things a bit differently than most, in that they typically will mail a letter to the congregation. This does a couple of things - allows the church leadership to be the primary source for info, communicates encouragement and joy for the staff member leaving, and gives a tentative schedule for a staff member's departure.

It works pretty well, and it really helped me with the whole "shocking" aspect of dropping it on folks during a Sunday morning service. (I had actually planned to leak it to the church, but as those things go, tons of people already knew it was a possibility. How does that church grapevine thing work, by the way?)

Back in March, Chris called me. Chris works for a guy named Dave. Dave is married to gal named Elizabeth. For the past year, Elizabeth has been managing the worship team at Bethel, where she and Dave are faithful members.

Through Chris, Elizabeth was following the worship-related stuff on the blog. When "All The Freed" was done, Chris gave her a CD. Then in March, Chris calls me and it happens something like this:

CHRIS: "Can Bethel call you?"

ME: "Huh?

CHRIS: "They love the CD. They want to call you."

ME: "They know there are professional players on the record, right. They realize I'm not going to sound like that, right?"

CHRIS: "Yeah....can they call you?"

So, I say yes. I'm tell Chris to give my number to the senior pastor, a guy named Ross Strader.

So, Ross calls me. But never gets me. At least I don't remember talking to him. I hate to use the phrase "phone tag," but there's no denying it - we played phone tag and never really got in touch with one another.

I decided to leave it alone. I gave up on calling him. And he kinda' did the same.

This is the part where you fast forward a couple of months...to May 30th.

It's Friday, May 30th. My anniversary. At about 10 that morning, Kristen comes rushing into the bedroom, where I am gasping, sweating and pushing my body to the ultimate limit on my treadmill. Seriously, gang...like 6.6 on the speed. That...is...cruisin'.

She's got the phone covered with her hand and she's mouthing...

"Ross Strader. It's Ross Strader!"

Since I couldn't speak and pant at the same time, I communicated to Kristen through the skillfull use of hand signals something like this:

"Can't. Talk. Need. Air. Tell. Call. Back."

I also might have thrown in something like "call 911-I can't breathe," but I'm not sure.

I get off the treadmill eventually and call Ross back. We talk for about 10 minutes about Bethel, my ministry, whether or not I'm "looking" for a new place, that whole deal. I tell Ross that I'm not out there pursuing a new job, but that I would send him a resume.

He says great, and we hang up.

Another Reason You Should Be Friends With John Simmons...

He sends you stuff like this:

Dozens Hurt After B.C. Church Floor Collapses

A woman remains in hospital with serious head injuries after the floor of a B.C. church collapsed, plunging dozens of people several metres into the basement.

The unidentified 42-year-old woman, currently being treated at Vancouver General Hospital, is one of three people seriously hurt in the accident. Another woman was treated for a fractured leg and released Saturday, while a third victim suffered a fractured hand. More than 35 others escaped with minor injuries, including 15-year-old Bethany Bois.

"It kind of felt like a trampoline, like I was just jumping and jumping, and then all of a sudden I felt like it was all in slow motion," she told CTV British Columbia.

"I hit a whole bunch of (speakers) and a whole bunch fell on me, and then a whole bunch of people came after me and some were on top of me."

At least 1,000 people, mostly teenagers, were at Abbotsford Central Heights Church Friday night for a concert. The accident happened during the third song by Christian rock band Starfield, just after 9 p.m.

Eyewitnesses at the concert say a lighting system above the stage fell on a group of concert-goers, who then crashed through the floor. Witness Connor Madden said Starfield frontman Tim Neufeld told the crowd to stop jumping up and down just before the collapse.

"The main singer of the band, I don't know if he saw it happening or something, maybe he saw the thing swinging down and about to fall on the people, but he told them to stop jumping," he said.
Abbotsford police Const. Roger Gosal told CTV.ca on Saturday that slightly more than 30 were treated at the scene. Of those, approximately 22 were taken to area hospitals, including the three victims with serious injuries.

Gosal said access to the church has been restricted.
"There's going to be engineers that will be attending at the church to do an assessment of the structure," he said.

The church was built in the 1980s. According to the church's head pastor, Chris Douglas, the building's main worship hall has a capacity of 1,300 or 1,400 people.

"It was not up to capacity at the time," he said.

Link

One More Way The Bible Freaks Me Out...

Does the scripture freak anybody else out?

(Judges 11)

32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."
36 "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."
38 "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed.

Or am I just spiritually immature?

Remember when churches use to allow amps on stage?

That was awesome.

Why do so many churches run everything direct these days?

I seriously want to know...if your church runs everything direct, please share....

The Lord's Prayer...with feeling!

Jonah Wright, Actor Of The Year

Last week, Jonah and I were talking about our Nothing But Nets campaign at the church. I was telling him about how cool it was and how we needed to do everything we could to help out. At some point in the conversation, I mentioned maybe using him in a video to promote it.

You should have seen his face.

I wasn't aware of this, but lately, he's been telling Kristen that he wants to be on TV. Well, on Saturday, he got his chance.

Here is Jonah's commercial for our Nothing But Nets campaign. We're going to post on blogs and websites, but in addition, it will be featured in the local TV broadcast our church service on the first Sunday in April.

Jonah did a great job - most of it was "lines," be we let him go off script a little bit because it was so great. We're gonna' try to fire up Jonah's blog again...if you'd like to throw some love his way, go leave a comment on his site...

The Show...

I'm willing to bet that your church shows an increased number of attendees on Easter.

Your particular area might not see the "rush" as much as most, but we're all familiar with the fact that, typically, Christmas and Easter bring back family members and friends and occasionally those unfamiliar with the church who are visiting on the High Holy Days.

I don't care if you're in the hippest, coolest mall-turned-worship-center or in a building 2,000 years old, I think almost everybody puts on "a show" at Easter. Some of us do it for all of the guests or folks we think may not be in relationship with God. Some of us do it for ourselves - a little dash of pageantry to brighten up the day.

I'd like to know your thoughts...

First of all, does your church put on a show?

And secondly, why?

I think we're all from pretty varied faith-families and I'd love to get an idea of what Easter looks like for you all. (And don't be afraid to get specific...I WANT to hear about that goat you bring into the choir loft!)

Remnant Promo

Here's this week's promo for Sunday night's Remnant.

CAN OF WORMS?

A lot of you are familiar with http://www.pwarchive.com/. For a long time, it's been a resource for chord charts and tabs for worship music. While coasting around Facebook the other day, I see a "pwarchive" group so I check it out.

Imagine my surprise to find numerous angry comments on their wall. Why? Because of this recent notice posted at the worship site:
______________________
Notice
Pwarchive has been contacted by the Church Music Publishers Association and have been asked to remove all lyrics from the site due to copyrights. Over the next few days, work is going to be done to comply with this. Please join the mailing list for all future updates. Want to help?

Additional details on this matter can be found on the copyright page which will contain future updates. Sign the petition to as CMPA members to grant licenses to Pwarchive.
______________________



First things first - what are your thoughts on this development?

Secondly, if you'd like to protest this decision, I strongly urge you to click the 'petition' link above and let your voice be heard. I'm not sure how many names are needed, but as the time of this writing, it was somewhere around 1200 names.