Great moment in a creative meeting today. We had much discussion about how to approach someone with an issue…different angles, multiple perspectives. But then our senior pastor did something that should be normal. It was so profound I got choked up. He said, “let’s hold up on talking to them…let’s pray right now that God would show them what is right and appropriate.”
Awesome.
May that be the first thing I do.
Always.
It took me a long while to get used to playing/singing with in-ear monitors (IEM). I’m sure part of it was my own slow adapting, but there’s still part of me that goes back and forth on their usefulness. As a worship leader, I believe one of my jobs is to respond to what is happening among the worshippers I am leading. The IEMs cut you off from hearing them. Sure, you can have audience mics, but they’re never going to be anywhere near perfect and they are the first things that get cut in a “crisis” situation (you worship leader out there know what I mean).
I remember I was having a conversation with an experienced engineer and he told me that hearing the congregation was not important – that it did nothing more than to build up the leader’s ego. I completely disagree!
There are not many greater privileges than hearing the people of God sing to Him. To hear them cry out to Him. It moves me and I believe it moves the heart of God (See Genesis 18:16-33 (Abraham); Exodus 32:7-14 (Moses)). Why would I want to do anything that impedes this?
All this said, IEMs can be a good tool. You can definitely hear yourself better and if you use click tracks or loops they are an absolute necessity. They can truly improve some musicians’ playing and/or singing. Wedges can make getting a good house mix difficult (especially with an inexperienced engineer) – I am well aware of this. But, there is a lost art to getting a good wedge mix AND a good house mix.
A good balance is to use one ear. You need to trade ears often as you don’t want them to wear unevenly 
. I know many don’t advocate this, but some find it to be a good compromise.
The key is not the choice between IEMs or wedges. It is the worship leader/team’s ability to hear and respond to those they are leading. That should have higher priority than the technology we use to hear ourselves.
The Church must repent of its idolization of “cool,” in which we dishonor our parents, spite our brothers and sisters in the faith, and merely set ourselves up for the sins we perceive in them — appearing “of the times.”
Quote from Jared Wilson’s Blog.
Today the subway was packed with people. That’s not unusual in the mornings, but today was extra tight. I noticed a woman standing next to me reading the Bible and it got me thinking about how many people I see reading Scripture on the train. Of course, everyone’s usually doing something – reading, writing, listening to music – but there’s often someone reading the Bible.
So often we hear about how the Church is compacting and leaders ask the question, “Where are all the believers?” While this is not necessarily a bad question to ask, God’s been showing me that He has believers everywhere. Even in the darkest places His people are there. They are praying. They are seeking Him. They are the ones bringing the favor of God upon those places. They are leading people out of the darkness.
What I’ve started doing when I see these people on the train is just praying for them. Praying that God would show them something so incredible, so wonderful in that moment. It’s the only place to start for my new brother or sister I didn’t know existed just minutes before.
Jesus is building His Church in the Earth. Let’s look for each other. Let’s encourage each other — even if we don’t always agree. He’s worthy of that and so much more.
May we be His Body:
And God placed all things under his (Christ’s) feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. – Ephesians 1:22-23
This will be a light week on the blog as I’m preparing to lead worship at Shelter Rock Church this weekend and Olivia and I are answering the question, “To move or not to move…”
From President Obama’s speech to the UN earlier today…
(Pursuit of peace) “That effort must begin with an unshakeable determination that the murder of innocent men, women and children will never be tolerated.”
Yet we murder innocent children to the tune of some one million a year in the US alone. Since 1973, 45 million children have been aborted in our own country (not to mention the numbers around the world).
When will we stand up for their rights? When will the human rights so many clamor for include the most vulnerable and defenseless? The blood of the innocent cries out.
God, help us.
There are some 300,000 churches in America, and I could have picked any one to attend on Easter morning, but I liked being in this one. Especially the kids. They didn’t need Reverend Henderson’s prayer techniques, or the high-tech mantras of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Their prayers weren’t Rabbi Gellman’s suburban Jewish prayers of Thanks! offered to whom it may concern. They didn’t pray to de-center their egos or find transcendence or to set off on a lifelong therapeutic spiritual journey. They prayed to a God with whom they were on a first-name basis, and they believed their prayers gave them power, which they used on behalf of their asthmatic sisters and infirm grandparents and a kid they knew with burns on his body. Sitting in church on Easter morning, I realized that I was probably never going to become a praying man. But if, by some miracle, I ever do, I hope my prayers will be like the prayers of the kids I met at the Love church in Berkeley Springs. Straight-up Gimme! on behalf of people who really need the help. -ZEV CHAFETS in the New York Times Magazine
This is quite an interesting article about prayer (and long if you know the Times magazine). This last paragraph was so powerful to me. The author is an agnostic and goes to all kinds of Churches, Synagogues, therapists, etc. to find out about prayer.
In the end the most powerful expression came just as Jesus said it would: like a child.
I want to come to God like that. So often when I pray I’m concerned with “squeezing it in” or getting to everyone on my list rather than just coming to Jesus with my heart open to the possibility that He can do anything. Anything for me. Anything for those I love and care about. All I have to do is believe.
So, this week, I’m going to lay my heart open before the Lord and be like a child. Imperfect and full of anticipation.
Just like a little kid.
Recently, one of my Twitter friends stated, “what you ask of God reflects what you believe about Him.”
If I don’t ask Him to meet seemingly unmeetable needs, do I not believe He can or would meet those needs (Phillipians 4:19)? If I don’t ask him to heal the sick, do I actually believe He can do it (Isaiah 53:5)? If I refrain from asking Him to make a way for me in my job/career do I somehow not really believe that He helps those who call on Him (Matthew 7)?
I want to believe God for great things. Things that can’t be explained away rationally or with some natural answer.
Remember the movie Pay It Forward? Haley Joel Osment’s character embarks on a project to do good things for others. But the things have to be what he calls “Big.” Not just holding the door for someone (that’s good), but something that alters someone’s life in a meaningful, impactful way.
That’s what I want to pray for, to ask God for. For mountains in people’s lives to be moved, for the mountains in my life to be moved.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11)
Recently at work I saw a name of a foundation that said this to me: The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. The namers of this organization weren’t aiming to make a few nice discoveries. They were going for the end-all for those who are affected by paralysis: the cure.
That’s what I want to have the faith to ask for in my life…to get rid of all debt…to see my eyes healed…to have a song cut…and on to my family, on to friends, on to cities, on to nations.
Let’s ask God for big things!!
What are you asking for?
I read this article recently by indie music entrepreneur Derek Sivers. It’s about a lecture he went to where the idea of the story – the rise and fall of drama – is illustrated and explained. He talks about how we love stories because the pendulum swings so wildly from misery to exceeding joy. Drama is exciting. The problem, he infers from the lecture, is that everybody wants their lives to be like this. But, in reality, our lives are mostly mundane and, well, boring. He gives this as the reason why people start fights and create drama; so we can live more of the stories we love so much.
I disagree with his conclusion.
My father-in-law has been Olivia’s and my pastor since we were married. One of my favorite things that he says about a life following Jesus is that it is a great adventure (not to quote old school Steven Curtis Chapman or anything). It’s true. When the Holy Spirit is in you, you live a life that is not even imaginable without Him. You do things that make the world (and even many Christians) go, “Huh?”
Scripture says, “His ways are higher than our ways” so sometimes things don’t always seem logical, but you are persuaded to go, to follow. Jesus tells us that the Spirit is like the wind – you don’t know where it came from or where it’s going. We are supposed to be like that.
Like I shared last week, sometimes you’re just living everyday life and God drops someone in your way, changing all your plans.
Sometimes He tells you to give someone a call, or a hug, or money. Sometimes He tells you to move across the country, or the world. He’s always working in people’s lives. He’s always orchestrating His plans and He wants to use you. He wants to use me.
Sign me up.
Because I don’t want a storyless life. I want to know God and I want to see Him move in amazing, supernatural ways in unbelievable places with fascinating people.
Even in the everyday.
So, I like football movies…
I only played for a couple years, but I think back on that time with a lot of fondness. Maybe because the practices was so incredibly grueling. I know that seems weird…you are sure that you are going to die right there on the field from pure exhaustion…I remember being so thirsty that I would suck on my sweat soaked jersey. But you don’t die, you get a water break and nasty garden-hose-pvc-pipe water tastes like Evian. The feeling afterward of having accomplished something is nothing short of exhilarating.
So, back to football movies…
I watched The Express recently and was reminded of something that I want to be a part of my life now: The head coach in the movie (Dennis Quaid) talks about how they can beat the other teams by being more prepared — by the quality they produce.
In my songwriting I want to keep pushing through until I have a song that is the absolute best it can be. There is a part of music that is intangible and you can’t control, but the part I have responsibility for, I want to be exceptional.
In my singing and guitar/keys playing I want to play the best parts possible for me. I don’t want to just play chords…I want to write parts that I have to practice! (I can’t believe I’m writing this down…) It doesn’t have to be complicated, just right. Sometimes the simplest things can be the most beautiful. But I don’t want to just settle for something because it’s just good enough.
In my relationship with God I want to press on and experience all that He has for me. I don’t want to just get by and know that I’m a Christian. I want to know more of Him. I want to see and hear things I can’t even imagine. I want Him to use me to do great things. What He designates as great — not necessarily what the world thinks is significant. I want to see Him move and touch people and shower them with grace and mercy like He has throughout history…I want to be a part of great stories that people tell years from now.
So, yeah, I like football movies…how about you?
Have you seen the movie Eagle Eye? Two seemingly random people are thrown together by a mysterious voice that keeps calling them with instructions. They end up working this wildly elaborate plot in supposed service to their country. I won’t ruin the ending for you (and it’s not relevant to my point).
The thing that caught my attention is the when the voice calls them for the first time. She gives them a directive and then says, “You’ve been activated.”
They are unsuspecting, normal people whose services are needed because they are in the right place at the right time.
I think God calls on us in the same way sometimes. We are going about our daily routines and “bam,” we’re called into service.
“You’ve been activated”
Last week I was heading to work when I got on the subway at the normal time and normal place. An older gentleman sat down and began to talk to me. Now, if you are familiar with NYC subways, you realize that no one talks to each other…usually ever…especially in the morning. The thing about this man is that he wasn’t annoying. He was 73 and he had chronic pain in his back. He was on his way to physical therapy in Jersey City where the doctors do not have any other options for him except live with the pain. He kept saying “I just don’t know what else I can do.”
Almost immediately I knew that God said, “You’ve been activated.” I thought, “Lord, You don’t want me to pray for this man on the quiet train, do You???”
It got even better when the man explained that he had seen a preacher on TV the night before talking about healing and he had called, but couldn’t decide whether to go…he wanted to know if I believed things like that could happen. First, I thought about how the Lord has a sense of humor. I told him I knew God could heal Him and give him a miracle. I have seen it myself.
I still didn’t know if I should pray for him on the train, but it turned out he just needed someone to tell him he should go to the church. Sometimes God just needs us to give people a prod.
You just never know when you’ll be activated. But, rest assured, God has activated others for you and He will use you if you are willing. If you and me are paying attention.
Do you have an “activation” story?
