Polished Perfection or Not?

So here is something I am wrestling with. We often talk about how "excellence" is the currency of our culture. People expect it and demand it. If a person is faced with a choice between two churches and all things are equal with regard to facilities, programing, opportunities, etc. I am told that they will choose the church that is more polished. Really??????? Is that all there is to it?

What about with music, (which is my area)? I was told that I need to strive to be as close to what people hear on the radio with regard to musicality and quality. Really? Is that what people want? Is that what my job is about? Bringing us to the same level of professionalism that is played on the radio?

We lament that people are too me-oriented and too consumeristic but aren't we feeding the beast with the level of perfection we demand from our volunteers? Are we sending a mixed message of we want you to be real but we also want you to be pretty polished people?

I love my church family. The past three years have been one of the best experiences my family and I have had in a church. We feel loved and we love the people here. It really feels like a family to us. So don't misunderstand this post and think that I am saying that we have got it all wrong. Also, please don't think that I am saying we should not seek to improve and get better or just show up and "see what happens". I'm not, but I do think that we need to re-examine some things.

I have never been one who tries to put on a "church-smile". If you ask me how I am doing you're going to get the real answer. If I ask you how you are doing I want the real answer. When I am leading worship from the stage I don't want to perform, I want to worship God in that moment. Sometimes I'm tired, sometimes I'm grumpy, sometimes I am struggling with a area of sin, sometimes I do it because I want to, sometimes I do it because I have too, sometimes I do it because I don't know what else to do. I'm not perfect and I have never claimed to be. I am not a pretty person (I'm not talking about physically prettiness although I probably wouldn't fall into that category either) and I don't want to be part of a church that is made up of pretty people. I want to be a part of a church that is made up of real people. People that know that they are broken and sinful yet also know that they are continually being made more and more into the likeness of Christ. People who don't claim to know all the answers but know the One who does have all the answers.

So I guess what I am trying to ask is this: When is good enough...good enough? My answer? It is good enough when you are giving everything you can at that moment for God.

What do you think?

Life Unplugged

Have you ever gone on vacation only to take your laptop, cellphone or other electronic tether? Try doing it without it sometime. I just recently returned from a family vacation to Colorado and during the entire 9-day trip I kept my cell phone off and had actually left my laptop at home. My thought at the beginning of the trip was, "How will I check e-mail or get important phone calls? What if the people filling in for me need something or have a question? What if something major happens and they can't get a hold of me? What if...?" Well, guess what? The earth didn't stop spinning and my church didn't fold. Everything was fine. Actually, it was better than fine. It was the most relaxing, peaceful vacation I have had in years and I realized something. "It's ok to unplug!"

Laptops, cell-phones, and other electronic devices are great tools to help us be more efficient and effective but we must always remember, they are tools. They should remain as such. Don't let them control you! Don't let them dictate your life.

For those of you who are old enough to remember life before cell phones and wi-fi, remember that we did just fine then and you can do fine now.

Nothing overly profound about this post just a reminder to don't be afraid to live life uplugged.

Peace

What's my Motive

This Sunday we have a guest speaker. He is pastor from Ireland and will be sharing about what God is doing in and through the church in Ireland and Europe. I am looking forward to it but I have a struggle. I am working on the worship set for that particular service and I find myself more concerned with impressing him than with honoring God. Thoughts such as, "maybe if we sound really awesome he will ask us to come to lead worship there." How stupid, I know and believe with all my heart that my first and number one priority as a worship leader is to honor God yet I am thinking more about man. God help me to get my focus back on you. No matter how good it sounds and looks it is a pile of manure unless it is for your glory.

For all of us, if we stop and think about our lives, how many times are we more concerned with the accolades of man than honoring God? At work do we focus more on getting the attention and praises of our boss or coworkers more than doing it as worship to God? In our communities are we more concerned with looking like we have it all together than we are being real with our neighbors in good and bad and pointing them to God? For many of us I believe the answer is a resounding yes.

Let's take some time to stop and humbly stand before God ask forgiveness. Then recalibrate our priorities on Him and Him alone.

Life Without Me

I just returned from a week long worship leader's conference and something pretty amazing happened while I was gone. The worship band was able to rehearse and prepare for Sunday without me. What?! NO WAY! Try it sometime yourself. It works.

In my life as a missionary and now as a pastor, I have said numerous times that my job is to work myself out of a job. That is, I need to train people to be able to do things I do because there will be a time when I will not be there to do them. Even though I have said this over and over and I believe it is what I need to do I have too often failed in this regard. I tend to hold tightly to the things I am responsible for and give token efforts to make it look like I am "training others". The past several months I have been very purposefully letting go of things. This past week is an example. Normally I would rearrange the rehearsal schedule so that I could work with the team after I get back. Instead of focusing solely on the conference I would work through the week on the Sunday set-list and be e-mailing during seminars or miss out on important hang-out and discussion time with those I went to the conference with. This time I made a commitment that I would let those I left in charge do it and I would not step in unless they asked for help.

Sunday morning came and I showed up to the morning rehearsal not to lead but to play acoustic and sing background vocals. It was great! I had to keep fighting to not take charge but to let K.W. lead. This was one of the most enjoyable services I have had in a while.

Here is what I am trying to get at. No one, not you, not me is indispensable. Nor should we every think we are. The Apostle Paul writes to his dear friend and student, Timothy and tells him "The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Timothy 2:2) Yes, Paul is talking about teaching the Word of God but I think the principle applies here. We who are called to ministry are called to be faithful and work hard but we are also responsible to train others to do the ministry along side of us and even train them to be able to do it on their own and eventually train others also.

So the next time you think you are indispensable think about what life would be like without you. Have you been faithful in training others to carry on without you. Jesus did.

Second-hand God

We live in a world of experts. When we need our car fixed we take it to a mechanic. When we need toilet installed we call a plumber. When we need to cook a roast we look to the Food Network stars. I believe this has infiltrated the church and our people too often turn to “God-experts” to get their problems solved instead of going to God Himself. We have become a consumerist society that would rather have someone else do the work for us than spend the time learning to do it ourselves.
Just take a walk through any Christian bookstore and even some of the other bookstores and you will see rows and rows of book written by men and women telling us something about God or something about how we should live our lives to be more successful, blessed, and just plain more spiritual. Now don’t get me wrong, I think there is value in reading books, I have a rapidly growing library myself, but I do think that these countless books often make the problem worse. Stay with me.
The danger in having and relying on “God-experts” is that we live vicariously through them. We rely on them and get our only spiritual food from them second-hand. There is nothing wrong with listening to sermons, reading books, attending seminars, etc. I do it myself and I learn a lot through them. The problem comes when we rely on them for our only source of spiritual food. My pastor is a great theologian. In his sermons he does an excellent job of teaching the truth of God’s Word. If I were to rely on his sermons alone and in effect get my knowledge of God second-hand and I would be lacking. I would not truly know the word of God but rather only what PJ says about the word of God. Are you tracking? As Christians our responsibility is to dive deep into the word of God ourselves.
If I want to lose 20 pounds it would seem silly for me to stand outside 24 hour fitness and look through the windows at the people exercising and never go in. Or what if I stood by the door and asked people what it was like when the exited? I would likely hear responses about how they feel better, have more energy, have lowered their cholesterol and blood pressure. But does any of that do me any good if I don’t enter in myself and climb on the elliptical? NO! People we need to stop doing that very same thing with our faith. We need to stop living through others and start putting the effort into learning ourselves.
I will leave you with these two thoughts. “If crisis were to hit your life today, would your knowledge of God be found to be too thin?” and “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The way to God is vigorous and requires total attention.”

Sunday Setlist

So, I am going to try something different for a while and see how it works. I will be posting our set-list from our most recent Sunday Services. Why? Well, two reasons. #1 It will help me to think through and evaluate and #2 It may give you an idea to try in your own setting.

Sunday May 31, 2009

King of Glory (Engle)
Welcome
Testimony Video
Prayer
"I Am" - video (purchased from Sermon Spice)
Just As I Am
Enough
Let It Rise
Scripture Psalm 57:5, 7-11
Shout to the North
Sing for Joy
Sermon
Sing to the King

What If???

What if? What if we were willing to do something totally crazy for God? What if we were willing to truly step out of our comfort zone in order to love the unlovable? What if we truly practiced childlike faith? What if we stopped trying to compete with the Jones' and spent our energy on sharing the Gospel with them? What if we started living our lives the way Jesus did? What if we attempted great things for God and expected great things from God? What if we marched around Jericho screaming and blowing trumpets or stepped into the Jordan before the waters parted? What if we lived out what we say we believe? What if we were 100% willing to let God do with us whatever He wanted? What if we didn't live looking only at "What was" but looked at what could be? What if we were willing to say "Here am I, send me!"? What if we allowed people to be who they are and not try to make them conform? What if we allowed people to ask any honest question they may have without making them feel inferior or like an outsider? What if we stepped out of the boat? What if?