Better Worshipers

Posted on July 30, 2008 by bornfun

I had the privilege of spending an extended lunch hour yesterday with a friend’s father, and a life-long worship leader and professor of worship leaders, Dr. Bruce Leafblad. It was one of those moments of imagining what might be that left me deep in thought and full of
longings. I praise God for men like this who have devoted their whole lives to raising up worshipers and worship leaders. From my experience yesterday, Bruce is still going strong as ever. I am deeply encouraged in this calling that God has placed on my life. It took me a
while afterward once back in the office to switch gears away from what might be back to what is, what had to be done that day. (What is, is good, and I praise God for the worship culture at Trinity, but certainly want to press onward.) We talked of many things, but ended on one that is preoccupying my mind these days.

My observation is this: the church worship service has made a cultural transition away from corporate worship toward an individual worship – from producer of worship to consumer of worship. This cultural shift nearly 40 years ago from primarily horizontal worship (worship about God) toward vertical worship (personal expressions of praise directly to God) was a good and necessary thing, but perhaps has gone out of balance. We need both. There is another trend that has complicated things. In our hurried and busy world, people to come to the worship service bankrupt of spiritual activity, seeking to make up for 6 days of no quiet time and virtually no thoughts of God and seeking God in personal worship during the week. I know this, because I feel that bankruptcy sometimes. I am a product of this culture as much as anyone else. That people come to the worship service hungry to meet with God is a good thing. We who lead the church in worship must recognize this and meet worshipers at that place of hunger. That people are not worshiping God personally during the week is a bad thing. Worship leaders must encourage and teach people how to practice a life of personal everyday worship. I will share some thoughts from my own journey of personal worship practices in my next blog.

Back to the worship service, I feel a need to focus our worship time on the corporate aspect of being the church of God worshiping God together. I think there is a movement back to this practice of corporate worship, and while it is connecting with all generations, it is particularly appealing to the younger generation – those in their 20’s. (The church will die if we fail to reach this next generation – I am more concerned about that right now than anything else.) While it is true that we are individuals and God knows our personal needs, and will speak to us individually during the worship service, the purpose of what we do
during in the corporate worship service is to meet with God together. It is the unity of expression of praise to God, the unity of being a family related through Christ and the gospel, the unity of our shared state of brokenness eclipsed by the beauty of grace, the unity of participating in the mission God has called us to, and the need for prayer, encouragement, and instruction from God’s word to be able to be the people who live worthy of that calling, together. Church is a together thing more than it is an individual thing. Churches whose worship services capture this aspect of the corporate worship service are bursting at the seams with people from every generation who are come
ready to give God the praise he deserves and it is beautiful.

Now back to my conversation with Bruce. He said an amazing thing when I proposed this question for conversation. “What we need is better worshipers, not better worship.” No change in the mechanics of the worship service will produce a permanent change unless it is partnered with a change in the day-to-day practice of the worshiper. This change is informed by the Word of God, and produced by the conviction and encouragement of the Holy Spirit, and the gentle but firm exhortation of those who lead from the pulpit and platform. I apply that to my own life and invite my worship leadership team to do so as well. We need to always be growing into better worshipers. Then we must figure out how
to gently teach and exhort our congregation toward a personal life of daily worship to God, leading them from there into the pleasures of experiencing God as we worship together, not alone.

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Bill Born

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Saying Goodbye

Posted on July 22, 2008 by bornfun

This morning we said goodbye to our two foster children.  The process over the last few weeks has been one of the hardest emotional journeys I’ve been on in my life.  Thankfully, I am resolved and at peace now, seeing God’s hand all over these recent events.  But the last time I wrote I was in the midst of a dark week of depression, confusion and anger as I tried to figure out what was happening.  Here I was, completely out of control again and things weren’t going my way.  It surely didn’t seem like God’s way either.  He was leading me down a path that I did not foresee and that I did not want to take – the path of letting go of two kids I had come to love and wanted to adopt if they became available.  I had to take this journey of reconciling my feelings and emotions with the truth of who God is and how God works, responding accordingly.  Isn’t this the pattern so often seen in the Psalms?

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psa. 42:5-6, NIV)  

How sweet that God ordained that my job would have me meditating on and preparing worship services around the Psalms at this difficult season of life.  I’m beginning to see how this is grounding me in truth about God’s character, strengthening my faith and thus strengthening me with the ability to do the right thing – let go and trust.  Last night as we ate our last dinner together, I was so sad that I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.  I wept some tears, praying to God as I cleaned up the dinner dishes and then I went to my worship band rehearsal – needy, hurting, and desperate to hear from God.  After singing through the set with the vocalists, centered on Psalm 96, my spirits were much lifted.  I was once again putting my hope in God and praising him out of this place of raw emotion.  I almost didn’t share my situation during our prayer time that followed, and then after we prayed together, thought better of it and mentioned my need for prayer in this difficult time.  My team prayed for Julie and me – I felt wonderfully enveloped in God’s love through the arms and encouraging words of God’s people.  What followed was one of the best rehearsals I have ever had.  Great music, great worship, and great fellowship – it doesn’t get any better than this.  I went home so full having spent a few hours with my orchestra team – 17 people worshiping God together with our voices and instruments.

I don’t know if my grief is over, but I felt like it was when I climbed in bed last night.  I spent a long time before hand kneeling by these kid’s beds as they slept.  I laid my head on their pillow next to theirs, listening to their breathing, smelling their familiar scent, and looking at their beautiful faces peacefully sleeping.  I rested my hand on their heads, as was my practice every night, ran my fingers through their hair and blessed them as I praised God for the blessing they had been to me.  Afterwards I just lay there and the most amazing thing happened.  I felt the sadness washed away as if God just lifted the burden from me.  Gone!  This morning, it didn’t come back.  In fact, it was surprisingly a sweet moment saying goodbye.  Both children were excited about going, but tangibly affectionate as we spent our last few hours together.  It couldn’t have been a better experience for us or for them. I will treasure the last kisses blown our way from the back seat of the car as they backed out of our driveway and moved on to the loving arms of the next family anxiously awaiting their arrival.  These kids are God’s kids and he is obviously taking great care of them.

God is taking great care of us as well.  I’m not sure what is next, but I’ve got an unexpected anticipation as “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.” (Psa. 33:20-22, NIV)

~w.t. born

 

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Ruthlessly Trusting God

Posted on July 16, 2008 by bornfun

Ruthlessly trusting God again!  This week, we are going through the very difficult process of transferring our two foster kids into another home.  I’ve never felt the weightiness of grief over anything like I have this past week.  To me, it is the death of a dream, as well as the separation from two children that I have come to love.  This is the way I pictured my family since I was 20.  To finally arrive with a promising future, and then have it come to an abrupt and unwanted end is painful.  To me, it was living in the abundant overflow, soaked in the deluge of God’s perfect purpose and pleasure and now it’s moving to the desert of grief and wondering what God’s purpose really is.  To join the broken foster care system where kids are bounced from home to home, hoping to be a solution to the problem, but then adding to the problem, that hurts a lot.  To look at the faces of the ones I love, who have been abandoned time and again, and think that I cannot keep pouring my love into them, worse yet feel like I am abandoning them – it breaks my heart.  The last two months have been delightful as we welcomed our 4-year old girl on May 1st, and then her 3-year old brother, on June 13th.  To watch them being enveloped in our love, our family’s love and our friends’ love has given me so much joy.  To see them running around on our farm, thriving in the abundance that God has given us, this was a delight. Finally seeing a softening heart in Billy, learning to enjoy these kids like his own siblings – seeing my family begin to look and behave like a family of four siblings has been beautiful beyond description.  It was the missing element that I hoped and prayed would develop with time.  Yet over all of that joy has been a fog of sadness and sorrow as I realized that Julie was not feeling it with me.  She has been graciously loving and serving these kids, but somehow unable to give them her heart.  There just isn’t enough space, emotionally, physically and socially to be able to give what she wants to give and what these precious children need.  The timing is not right.  I am alone in my desire to be this family now, and in this type of ministry, one cannot be alone.  This is a family ministry and our success is based on our unity in heart and in purpose.  Ultimately, so is our shared joy, health and longevity as a couple.

So now I wait for the inevitable to happen as we proceed with the transfer.  I hate the reality of it, but somehow, I am at peace today.  My emotions will not remain constant.  I am sure that I will hit the grief again, but I am fully trusting God.  I believe and have learned a few things that are grounding me in this situation.

1. God is faithful.  He is good.  Our situation with Maria was grounded in the faithfulness of the Lord and the certainty of his plans and his control of situations that are totally out of our control.  I clung to these two truths and once again, I do so today.

“For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.”(Psa. 33:4, NIV)

“But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations. ” (Psa. 33:11-12, NIV)

Julie and I are in God’s hands.  Our two foster children are in his hands because we and other believers have interceded for them and placed them there.  There is no better or safer place to be.  Even though it hurts to give them away to another family, we are doing so once again into the hands of their loving Father.  I can let go and trust no matter how hard it seems right now.  His purposes for them and for us will stand no matter what.

2. God redeems our mistakes and failures and is not surprised by them. I own my own failure in this situation as I moved forward without Julie’s wholehearted consent.  The decision was flawed from the start.  Thankfully, God’s grace covers our weakness; in fact in our weakness, we are made strong in Christ Jesus.  I find great relief and I find God’s purpose hidden here.  Like Paul, I have pleaded to God to change this situation and he has not.

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Cor. 12:9-10, NIV)

The difficult experience that Paul was facing he called his “thorn in the flesh.”  He also said that it was given to him to keep him from becoming conceited.  If this situation is God’s refining process in my life to keep me from pride, I gladly accept it.  Humility is one of the most important heart attitudes that I ask the Lord to grow in me.  I’m feeling it now and I can honestly say, “Thank you, Lord.”

3. I know that I have the best wife in the world and loving her is my first priority.  This was the commitment I made before the Lord, my friends and family over 12 years ago, and it is where I need to focus all of my heart now.  The transfer of these children from our home is an ‘us’ thing.  We made the decision together and I stand with Julie, not apart from her.  God help me to love her like you love the church, laying your life down for her. Help me to lay down my life, my dreams, and ultimately, my will, to pursue what you have for us together.  Help me to remain faithful.  I cannot do this without the overflow of your Holy Spirit producing that fruit in me that is pleasing to you and that brings life and peace to my Julie Ann.  I trust you with all of my heart.  Oh for grace to trust you more!

~w.t. born

 

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Cardboard Testimonies @ Trinity

Posted on July 16, 2008 by bornfun

I just need to celebrate what happened on Sunday in our worship services. Mark Brown
preached a wonderful message on Psalm 103 titled, “Forget Not His Benefits.” We culminated the worship service with an idea we saw another church do on YouTube called, Cardboard Testimonies. This was a beautiful demonstration of Psalm 145 worship – one generation commending the works of the Lord to another. Praise was rising from Trinity Church in a powerful way on Sunday, and I know that many people’s faith was strengthened as a result of this powerful proclamation of the greatness of our God on display through the mighty works of God. This type of transparency and celebration is exactly what many others and I have been praying for our church and I can barely contain my joy to see it happening. God is alive and presently at work in the lives of his people and we must declare it, celebrate it, and rally around this work inside and outside of our worship services. In so doing, we not only bring praise to God, we also invite others to open
their lives to the work of God, and enter a faith relationship with him. God does not seem real to people unless we are willing to be real about our stuff on the front of the cardboard. There is no shame in failures, disappointments, sins, diseases, and the admission that we are in the pit and in need of rescue. What’s on the front of the cardboard gets eclipsed by the beauty of what’s on the other side. It is grace that becomes the centerpiece of beauty reflected in the life of the redeemed, rescued, healed and forgiven Christ-follower. That brings God the greatest glory! Now wouldn’t it be cool if all of the churches in our area joined in offering this type of praise to God! We’d all be scrambling for space because our churches would be overflowing with people who are experiencing “the benefits of God” and gathered to publicly declare their gratitude in worship to him.

“Praise the Lord, oh my soul. Let all that is within me praise his holy name!” 
                                                                                                         ~Psalm 103:1

Check out Mark’s  message here, Forget Not His Benefits, and the Cardboard Testimonies video here, Cardboard Testimonies.

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Bill Born

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Declaring the Works of the Lord

Posted on July 9, 2008 by bornfun

Wow, it’s been a little while since I’ve posted. After a vacation and some personal struggles that have kept me from my ‘listening time,’ I am back. This morning, I am posting my notes from part of a talk I prepared last week. I wrote this as part of my DAWG day. (Day Alone With God) After I wrote this, I went for a 3 hour hike with my ipod repeating Psalm 145 over and over as I spoke it out loud, alone in the forest, successfully memorizing it after about two hours. I thoroughly enjoyed this modern way to memorize and meditate upon Scripture.

July 2, 2008 10:15 AM Today I am enjoying some time up in our mountains in my tent trailer. I just spent the last hour lying in a hammock reading Psalm 145 and praying through each verse. I admit that I dozed off once and a while and I enjoyed it. Peace and rest, solitude; wow, these things have been non-existent lately. There’s a cool breeze and it is quiet. I don’t remember the last time I’ve been alone for an extended period of time. I tend to enjoy my life – the chaos of four children (yes, four! You’ll have to check out my Adoption Blog) and the challenge of keeping up with the busy social schedule of my ENFP (Extraverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving) wife. Of course being a pastor at a large church and living in town with most of our relatives makes it all the more busy. Somehow, I like it and like the challenge of listening to God in the midst of all the stuff that really is my life. God has placed all of these people around me and I delight in them and in the things that he has called me to do. While I value the time to get away, the Christian life must be lived in the day-to-day, moment-by-moment reality of activity. The challenge is how to listen to God and grow in my relationship with him. Basically, the challenge is two-fold. First, I must make God a part of every area of my life. Second, I must make some space for him alone. Both are a challenge in this day and age, and probably have been throughout all time. I’m going to spend the bulk of my time preparing a talk on Psalm 145 that I will call “145 Worship.” Mark Brown and Rick Langer are going to preach a message on that passage and then I am going to conclude with a challenge for us as a Trinity Church worshiping community. Goal: I am going to close our message this morning by encouraging my Trinity church family to excel in 145 worship. This is worship that meditates on God’s greatness and proclaims his works. I want to apply this Psalm to us as a worshiping community.

Key Idea: Psalm 145 calls us to publicly declare, celebrate and sing about two aspects of God
1. Who he is, “the glorious splendor of his majesty,” his character, what he is like “he is gracious and compassionate . . . slow to anger and rich in love . . . good to all . . . faithful to all his promises . . . loving toward all he has made . . . righteous in all his ways . . . and near to all who call on him.”
2. What he does, “he upholds those who fall . . . lifts up those who are depressed . . . gives us the things we need . . . satisfies our desires . . . fulfills our desires . . . hears our cries . . .
saves us … and watches over us.”

Picture these two aspects of worship, over here [left] “Who God is” and over here [right] “What God does.” (I’m going to give my camera operators a challenge this morning) It is critical that we spend equal time doing both in order to engage our heads and our hearts in worship to God. [Move to right] Picture a worship where there is not an adequate focus on who God is. We would end up with a self-centered view of God that lacked the deep trust that comes from the knowledge of the truth. This deep trust carries us through when life
gets hard or God seems distant and hard to understand. [Move to left] On the other hand, if our worship services lacked the proclamation of what God does, all of the deep truths would seem to lack evidence – heady knowledge without a heart connection. The works of the Lord are what makes it real. I think that God realized the human need for evidence or proof. Remember when John the Baptist was questioning the identity of Jesus as the Messiah? Jesus answered his messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. (Luke 7:22, NIV) [move to center] We need to fill our times when we gather to worship God with an equal portion of both. I would like to see our church family rally more and more around Who God Is and What God does. In the words of the Apostle Paul, “I urge you, therefore,
to excel still more.” However, over the past year God has been giving me an increasing desire to see us grow in the aspect of worship that publicly declares What God has done and what he is doing among us. Just a year ago, I wrote a blog and titled it, “Desperate for
God’s Work Among Us.” In it I concluded that God was indeed at work among us, but that we needed to do a better job at declaring that work, and that it was my job to lead out in this Psalm 145 worship. “One generation will commend your works to another. They will tell of your mighty acts. They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty and I will meditate upon your wonderful works.” However, if we are really going to excel at declaring
the works of the Lord, we need to realize something important that goes before. Have you noticed this about the works of the Lord on our behalf? Nearly all of them have to do with the fact that we are needy. Listen as I read through the list again. (Read What he does list) I Bill Born, do hereby confess that I am a needy person. There is no shame in being needy, in fact there is glory to God in this. Do you recall that Paul boasted in his weakness in order that through Christ he might be made strong? Do you recall that Christ said, “I did not come for the healthy, but for the sick who were in need of a physician.” In order to grow in this “declaring the works of the Lord” aspect of our worship at Trinity, we must come honestly to God in front of one another. We cannot hide thinking that we are alone in our needy state, or worse yet, come trying to impress like we have it all together. David was unashamed to confess how absolutely needy he was and we need to be unashamed as well. We cannot fully declare the works of the Lord unless we first identify, own and confess that we are needy. In fact, I think that we close ourselves off to the works of the Lord unless we come to him needy. What are your needs this morning? Have you called out to God with this need? He is near to those who call on him in truth. Do others in this church family know about your needs? Perhaps our great God is whispering to you right now that he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, that he is good and wants to have compassion on you. God hears our cries and can save us anywhere, but certainly we should be open to him doing these works among us during our worship service. Or perhaps you’ve experienced the works of the Lord. Remember that time when you cried out to him and he heard your cry and saved you? Have you taken the time to share that with your friends, your family, your coworkers, with this church family? We must do our part to pass on these stories of God’s works in our lives. Great is the Lord, and most worthy of Praise; his greatness, no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another. Don’t miss out on the pleasure of worshiping the Lord this way.

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Bill Born

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145 Worship

Posted on July 2, 2008 by bornfun

July 2, 2008
10:15 AM

Today I am enjoying some time up in our mountains in my tent trailer.  I just spent the last hour lying in a hammock reading Psalm 145 and praying through each verse.  I admit that I dozed off once and a while and I enjoyed it.  Peace and rest, solitude – wow, these things have been non-existent lately.

There’s a cool breeze and it is quiet.  I don’t remember the last time I’ve ever been alone for an extended period of time.  I tend to enjoy my life – the chaos of four children (yes, four!  You’ll have to check out my Adoption Blog) and the challenge of keeping up with the busy social schedule of my ENFP wife.  Of course being a pastor of a large church and living in town with most of our relatives makes it all the more busy.  Somehow, I like it and like the challenge of listening to God in the midst of all the stuff that really is my life. God has placed all of these people around me and I delight in them and in the things that he has called me to do.  While I value the time to get away, the Christian life must be lived in the day-to-day, moment-by-moment reality of activity.  The challenge is how to listen to God and grow in my relationship with him.  Basically, the challenge is two-fold.  First, I must make God a part of every area of my life.  Second, I must make some space for him alone.  Both are a challenge in this day and age, and probably have been throughout all time.

I’m going to spend the bulk of my time preparing a talk on Psalm 145 that I will call “145 Worship.”  Mark Brown and Rick Langer are going to preach a message on that passage and then I am going to conclude with a challenge for us as a Trinity Church worshiping community.

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Leading the Army

Posted on May 14, 2008 by bornfun

May 14, 2008
7:59 AM

This morning I want to think about worship leading, and an insight that I received this week. I went to a meeting in a colleague’s office last week.  I was discouraged and it had to do with my own inability to lead well.  I drove to work pleading with God for an answer, for help, for a breakthrough.  That morning and my answer came in the form of a quote on the wall.  There were 4 points on leadership by Warren Wiersbe, and this one got my attention and reminded me to slow down.  This is what it said:

“If you get too far ahead of the army, your soldiers may mistake you for the enemy.”

Right after that meeting, I was thinking about worship leading, and this quote became very insightful into a problem that I think every worship leader faces.  Certainly I face it each week as I meet with my congregation in order to lead them in worshiping God.  The problem is this: If I’m not connecting with people, and helping them connect with God, then I’m not doing my job.  My job is to lead people into an encounter with God.  More importantly, it is to lead the people that are in the room with me – the ones God has brought together that very moment.

Here’s the challenge we worship leaders face.  I come to the worship service, having been planning, practicing, memorizing songs, praying, rehearsing and anticipating the worship service for many weeks in advance.  I rarely get a good night of sleep the night before because, song lyrics, scriptures, and thoughts about what I should say or pray in the worship service are racing around in my mind.  My team has been doing the same for the past week or two.  Then we all wake up very early and warm up by listening to some of the music during our commute.  We’ve been running through the elements of the service together for about an hour and a half before we finally meet with our congregation.  We are fired up, raring to go, enthusiastic about the worship service, having already encountered God.  Then our army shows up – the people God has given us the privilege to lead into his presence that morning.  The range of their emotional, spiritual and physical readiness to worship is huge – some are wounded, weary, sick & suffering, looking for a shelter – a quiet place with God.  Others aren’t sure why they are there, just going through the motions.  While others are ready to enter the battle, eager to pull out all the stops and shout their praise to God.  We’ve got this incredible desire to see them all engaging on the same level as we are, and so often that’s not the case.  Hello, is anybody out there?  We’re all alone here!

And so we make two mistakes at the point where we realize a disconnect with those we are there to lead.  We just forget that they are out there and go into battle alone, or we plea with them to join us, which can easily be mistaken as chastisement or exaggerated emotionalism.  Both choices put us way out in front of our army, to the point that we may appear to be the enemy – spiritually arrogant, insensitive, flaunting an emotional connectedness in worship that many others don’t feel.  At best, those we are trying to lead just feel like their leader can’t relate to them.  What we ought to do instead is realize that we are leading an army who have faithfully shown up.  They want to engage and that is a great place to start.  However, most of them have not warmed up, may be focused elsewhere and need to be reminded of what we are about to do.  And so here are some leading practices that I am going to intentionally try to improve at Trinity.

  1. The call to worship is so very important!  We must declare what we are about to do.  This is where we make sure we are not way out ahead of our army, but instead standing along side them, welcoming them, thanking them for coming, and then giving our marching orders.  Sometimes, most of the time, I think we just plow into the worship service like a train at full speed.  Unfortunately, a lot of people miss the train.  The call to worship is worth planning and even writing out in advance.  I envision myself spreading out my arms as wide as I can to gather as many people as possible.  (Unfortunately, only about half of my people are there because the rest are late – because of this, I usually have another call to worship after the welcome and announcements.)  The worship service is a corporate thing.  It is not a time for us to make up for all of our personal quiet times that we missed during the week.  However, there is the reality that people come with very personal needs and expectations, and that’s a good place to start. The opening statement, the choice of Scripture, song and a prayer of dedication for our time together is of utmost importance and must be chosen mainly with those we lead in mind.  What is their state of mind and how can I address that in a way that identifies their personal need, but leads them into a corporate experience?  What will best engage them and help them to enter in?  What will best unify us in our purpose of meeting together, namely to direct our attention to God and his Word?  What will make as many as possible feel at home – like this exactly where I need to be?
  2. Teaching about worship is important as well.  Little moments within the worship service where we gently and humbly present an important worship practice will have a lasting value.  For instance, last week I felt led to include a time of confession in our service.  Shamefully, this has not been a common occurrence during our worship services, and I felt pretty clumsy at introducing the time.   When evaluating how I did, one of my team members at a planning meeting last night suggested that a short video showing, inviting and highlighting a Biblical mandate for confession might be the perfect way to teach the congregation about it.  This would pave the way for me to then suggest and lead people in this process together.  It would engage people visually, audibly and then experientially.
  3. Another practice is this.  We must be aware at all times of where our people are.  If they are not with us, we must gently return to find them and regroup.  This is hard to do when there is the dreaded cue sheet – the order of service with every minute planned.  Time is an enemy unless we leave some slack in the service for this type of stuff.  Most often it can be sensing a moment where we are unified and stretching that moment out.  When you’ve got that feeling that you shouldn’t move on, don’t.  Pause for some silence or meditation on a phrase – anticipate the places where some instrumental support would be helpful and assign a musician to be ready. It took me 4 years of doing this job to learn that the ‘moving down the list’ kind of worship service is a killer to a felt presence of the unity of the Holy Spirit.
  4. A final practice is to realize that gathering to worship God corporately in a worship service is just that – practice.  The battle really begins at the doors when the army enters their world outside of the church worship service.  With that in mind, how we respond to the teaching of the Word is the most important part of the worship service next to the Call to Worship.  Most of our attention and intentional planning needs to be here.  This is where good communication with the preacher is of utmost importance.  We’ve got to have a smooth hand off that helps people respond to the truth of the Scriptures and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in how to apply.  Of all the times, this is where we should lead more toward the personal one-on-one worship between the worshiper and God.  Even then, I like to send people out on a high note, rallying together as the body of Christ around who God is, what he’s done for us, or what he’s calling us to be or do for the advance of his Kingdom.

We are leading an army.  Our position as worship leader is an incredible honor.  We must devote adequate time to the best preparation and practices possible that we may honor our King by how we lead his people, and by how we follow his lead. I am so honored to have a team of dedicated worship leaders who are also my friends.  These same principles apply to how we lead our teams and even our families.  May God receive the greatest glory as he works in and through us!

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Child #2

Posted on May 14, 2008 by bornfun

Last week was extraordinary as God just blew open the door to receiving another child into our home.  On Thursday, we took in a 4-year old girl and now despite the greatest joy I have ever felt, my family is in a huge adjustment period.  My joy is a result of recognizing God’s hand and sensing his pleasure as we obediently and faithfully walk into the center of his will for our lives.  Last night I was moved to tears as I watched our precious child riding bikes with Billy with a huge smile on her face.  She is enveloped in love and delight and is already thriving in it.  She has become the object of our deep concern, and not only our prayers, but the prayers of many others as our family and friends rise to the occasion once again.  Much fuss is being made over this child – that is beautiful to me.  Certainly it is beautiful to God, the one who formed her heart and knew her name before time began.  He also knew that she would come to us one day – a divine appointment was made and now has occurred.

It’s crazy to wait and pray for so long for this to happen (since September, 2007) and then to move so quickly into the reality of doing it.  Somewhere along the line Julie and I were led to include our names on the Foster-only list.  This big step for us has been more difficult than we ever imagined.  The beauty and the joy of actually doing it are rivaled by an incredible amount of weightiness, sadness even, as we consider our precious child’s situation and wonder about her future.  There are a lot of issues at play here, but I want to highlight a few.

First of all, is the awareness of the Spiritual world.  Julie and I have entered a battle against an enemy who delights in darkness, evil, death, destruction, addiction, brokenness, depression, and dysfunction, to name a few.  His presence in this world is undeniable.  The Evil One has had a stronghold for generations in some of these families and these precious children are victims of the sins of their parents and their parent’s parents.  The parents and families are not the enemy, they are often victims as well.  By God’s grace, we are on the other side with Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High God.  This is the side of redemption.  He calls all people to himself.  In the presence of his light, the darkness flees.  He is the essence of good and it is only in his absence that we see evil.  He delights in bringing eternal life, redemption, freedom from bondage to addictions, wholeness, and joy.  When a child is plucked from the kingdom of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of glorious light, the Enemy is the looser and he is really angry.  He is also threatened, as our child’s relatives are now the objects of our love and prayers as well.  God is reclaiming what is rightfully his – past, present and future!  We have felt the Enemy’s anger, and have been drawn to prayer like never before to confront the reality of the oppression.  Oppression brings a number of things – in our case, anxiety, agitation, disunity, confusion, exhaustion, and other unrelated problems that beat us down.  The only answer that we have found is to walk boldly forward, one day at a time, wholeheartedly trusting in God.  We are secure in God’s love for us, our love for each other (kept strong by honest communication), and the love of our family and friends.  This is God’s way for us and we wouldn’t have it any other way.  In the long run, just like Maria’s situation, this draws us into a more dependent, trust-relationship with our Heavenly Father.

The second issue at play here is emotional.  The adjustment to bringing a baby into a family is hard enough, especially on the existing siblings.  Imagine bringing in a 4-year old.  This has been a stunning change for both Billy and Maria, not to mention Julie and me.  Everything has been disrupted.  Every activity and relationship is impacted and we are in the necessary process of grieving the loss of what was and accepting what now is and learning to embrace it as better.  I have no doubt that God’s way is the best way for us.  In addition, there is the awkward reality that this child loves her parents and wants to go back to them.  It’s a new road to walk with very confusing emotions when it comes to the reality that she deserves and must receive our full extension of love for as many days as she is part of our family.  In this case, as in Maria’s case, but more glaring, we must love without possessing.

The third issue is obviously physical, spelled W.O.R.K. – laundry, meals, cleaning, baths, discipline, teaching, shopping.  This is where exhaustion comes in.  You can imagine the load Julie has added to her daily life in that everything has changed.  I still get to go to work.  Julie and other mothers like her are definitely the unspoken heros as they pretty much are at work 24/7.

The final issue is social and personal – there is a lot of giving up of things that is required to raise a family.  Time and energy given to children must be taken from somewhere else.  What gives? – sleep, friendships, social activities, etc.  In addition, you would think that there would be 100% support for such an act of sacrifice and love, but all too often, enthusiastic encouragement is not the first response we receive.  It’s what we need more than anything else!

Spiritually, emotionally, physically, socially – these things pretty much cover the entirety of who we are.  We’ve had to lay it all down – everything, and that is an uncomfortable thing to do.  We are embracing suffering for the sake of Christ in a world that resists, avoids and attempts to numb suffering at all costs.  This is a real paradigm shift for us and it’s not easy.  That is why a great blessing has been singing some worship songs that I chose for our church during a sermon series called Mission Possible.  Little did I know as I began listening to these songs in February, that God was equipping Julie and me to take this next step in our family ministry.  (You can read notes about each song on my blog at Trinity Church, and can take a link to download the iMix from iTunes.)  But the most encouraging thing has been to pray with each other, with friends and family and to rest assured that what we are doing is pleasing to God.  The awareness of God’s pleasure brings a joy that eclipses all other emotion.  The gift of like-minded family and friends is a great blessing. This is his way and together we are discovering his heart.  “Break my heart for what breaks yours.  Everything I am [is] for your Kingdom’s cause as I walk from earth into Eternity.” (lyrics from the song Hosanna by Hillsong)  I end with Jesus’ words.

 “… ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Matt. 25:37-40, NIV)

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Affirmation #7 – Church Health

Posted on April 16, 2008 by bornfun

April 16, 2008
7:06 AM

I’ve got so much to think about this morning and so little time.  I am most excited about where God is leading our church as we gather around our coach, Gary, over the next 2 months and he gives us the game plan.  It is God’s game plan, his mission for our church as we continue to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in our homes, community and beyond – and it is exciting!  I am discovering a grander view of the role of corporate worship as it relates to our church mission.  Changing metaphors from the game to the battle, I think of the biblical account of the army of Israel going into battle with the worshipers leading the way and the worship of the great army resounding as the battle call.  “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever!” All of the attention was on the Almighty God – all hope was in Him and victory was certain.  I want to lead our church in the same way, intentionally toward the mission that God has called us, our worship expressions resounding our mission call and the greatness of the One who has called us.  I’m not sure what that looks like, but have a strong sense that God is calling us there and that we’re about to see.  Please pray for our church and the role of Worship Ministries in what his glorious gospel is accomplishing among us here at Trinity Church.

In the meantime, I will reflect upon the last of the 7 Affirmations of Trinity’s Philosophy of Ministry.  It has been a great experience for me to use this document to clarify the role and vision of Worship Ministries.  Now I need to clearly communicate this vision to those who share the role of leadership with me, namely my Worship Planning Team and Worship Leadership Team.  If you are on one of those teams, I praise God for your partnership, and invite your feedback as we unite in purpose and lead our church family in the worship service.

The last affirmation is stated as follows:

7. Our emphasis is on church health rather than on church growth.

a. While numbers are important, we believe that church health is about whether we, as a body of believers, are functioning as God intends and about whether we are fulfilling our God-given mission and purposes.

b. We will develop effective structures of leadership and ministry that allow us to accomplish our mission, maintain effectiveness and efficiency, guard integrity and establish appropriate accountability.

This affirmation is self-explanatory.  While I agree wholeheartedly that church health is the focus, I do think that the lack of church growth should alert leadership to evaluating church health.  In other words, stagnation in growth may be a symptom of disease.  It takes boldness to step back and critically evaluate our own leadership, and more importantly turn to God and ask him to reveal areas of sin, blindness, shortsightedness, or weakness.  We should always be adjusting, evaluating, refocusing, and pressing onward in our call to be a church who is all about God and his mission and purposes.  I need to take primary responsibility for the Worship Ministry teams that I lead and also help my leadership teams do the same as they share responsibility for the health of their teams.  My worship planning team met last night and we are entering a period of critical evaluation of what we do and where we are going.  I am excited to see the results as we turn to God with our questions, desires and dependence on him to accomplish his perfect will in and through us.  This same pattern should exist in every area of leadership God has given me – in my marriage, in my family, my friendships, my occupation, etc.  Catching problems right away, putting them out in the open, devoting ourselves to prayer and then dealing with them is the best way to ensure health.  That’s hard to do in our quick-paced, demanding and noisy culture that robs us of any time to be quiet, listen to God, and evaluate where we are.  That’s hard for the leaders of a large church that has a packed master calendar.  But we must if our emphasis is really on church health.

Second, is the issue of structures of accountability and integrity.  I will speak mainly to my own responsibility with the teams I lead.  There is a place for formal evaluations, but having an environment of constant evaluation is much more profitable.  The foundation on which I strive to operate Worship Ministries teams is affirmation and encouragement.  However, we also need to be not only open to critical feedback, but aggressive in inviting feedback – from our leadership, our colleagues, and those we lead. Ego and pride are unwelcome, and detrimental.  Fortunately, they are also unnecessary when there is a strong spirit of love, affirmation and encouragement.  But, that is not enough.  When a team wholeheartedly owns its purpose and mission, the desire to accomplish them takes it to the next level of inviting critical input from each other.  Critical input is messy at times, especially when we as artists are bearing our souls through our art, but it is worth working through the mess together to find the nuggets of truth that will make us better, stronger, and ultimately more effective for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.  But it is the leader that must lead the process of being accountable and humility is the defining principle – pride is the killer.  God, make me this kind of leader.  May I build up leaders and teams that are single-minded in purpose, united in vision, and effective because we are full of your Holy Spirit.  May we join you in building up Trinity Church for your glory alone!  Amen.

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Are Announcements Worship?

Posted on April 9, 2008 by bornfun

April 9, 2008
7:33 AM

I am going to spend a brief time on a worship issue this morning.  Okay, it’s not that exciting – it’s the place and purpose of the announcements.  Maybe that’s part of the problem.  It should be exciting!  It should help us move forward as we meet with God.  I often feel a loss of momentum when I take the handoff from announcements.   I can feel the energy being sucked from the room.  The best announcers (I prefer to call them hosts) intentionally capture a heart for what God is doing among us and how we can be a part of it.  I think that a few clear goals and some intentional planning before delivering the announcements will make a huge difference in making them an integral part of our worship gathering.

I usually begin the worship service with the invitation to meet with God.  Our opening song and prayer centers us on God and is carefully chosen to include as many as possible in coming along.  It is important to invite people from their individual context of worship into the corporate sense that we are a people meeting together for a purpose.  I propose that the hand off to our announcement time pick up the ‘together’ theme and draw us further in, centering us on our God and evidence of his work among us.  It should be 4 to 5 minutes long at most and it should communicate the following:

  1. “This is a great family and we want you to be a part of it!” – We must warmly and sincerely welcome people to the worship service and specifically welcome guests to our church family.  Everything said in this time should indicate a real desire for them to join our family.  This includes an encouragement to connect with us at the welcome center. (1 minute)
  2. “We are going somewhere exciting!” – We are a church that is moving toward God and his mission/purpose for our lives.  We are in the middle of [current sermon series or focus].  Mention a specific thing coming up that people can be a part of.  Encourage them to look at the worship folder for many other opportunities. (1 – 2 minutes)
  3. “Look at what God is doing!” – This is the time to brag on God (bring a Hallelujah).  This could be a report of something He’s doing among us.  It could be a quick interview with someone (who is adequately prepared and coached).  It might be a faith story or a video recap of an event.  When appropriate, it should include a prayer of thanksgiving and a request for God to continue his work among us.  NOTE: This section could come anywhere in the service, but the announcer/host should allude to it and wet people’s appetite for where we are going. (2 – 3 minutes)

Then I would take the hand off moving us further in, fixing our eyes on the One at work among us, marveling at who he is and what he is doing.  Everything is moving toward the moment where receive instruction from God’s word … and then the response afterwards …  but that I shall save for another time.

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