Born to Worship

June 16, 2010
7:46 AM

Having just returned from a glorious 2-week vacation, I’m excited to be back home and back to work. But, before I return to my thoughts on excellence, I want to send congratulations to worship team member and dear friend, Roy Tinker on the marriage to Adrienne. It was their marriage that inspired us to drive all the way to Topeka, Kansas. Wouldn’t you agree that they are a beautiful couple? I had the privilege of witnessing their uniting in marriage and I am very excited for all that God has in store for their lives together.

Roy and I met probably about 10 years ago when he was a high school student, new to Trinity Church. A few years later he did an internship with me, which included fellowshipping together daily, praying together, planning worship sets, leading worship for our Trinity family, and even leading worship together for some missionaries in France. Roy’s love for the Lord and for the Scriptures became and continues to be an inspiration and encouragement to me. I’ve grown to love and respect him as a friend and brother and I couldn’t be happier that he has found a kindred spirit in Adrienne. She has a treasure in her newly acquired husband. And I know that she is also a treasure to him. God is so good!

I wrote a song 15 years ago that captured the joy when a woman of God is joined in marriage to a man of God. I wrote it in celebration of my best friend, Dave, and his bride, Stefani, who came together with the greater purpose to honor the Lord in their marriage. I also was preparing to propose to my sweetheart, Julie Ann, at the time, so the chorus about the woman of God reflects the Proverbs 31 qualities I saw in my own future wife. I consider it one of my best songs because its choruses flow from Scripture, capturing the character of my wife Julie as well as the character I aspire for myself as a man of God. I post it here in celebration of my 14th wedding anniversary next week. The Hand You Hold

Back to our Kansas experience, one of the unexpected blessings that we had was meeting Adrienne’s church family and finding that they were indeed our own. We met many folks from the Halpin’s church family and witnessed the sweet fragrance of Christ. How beautiful is the body of Christ! Where else can you drive up to a stranger’s house, knock on their door and immediately be welcomed as family? Adrienne’s parents arranged for our family to stay with Shawn & Tonya Schwensen. Shawn is the worship pastor of their church. It was a joy to fellowship with these kindred spirits! Our kids became immediate friends, as did we. Shawn and I talked a fair deal about worship leading and traded some favorite worship songs. I grew to respect him as a good husband, father, worker and servant to the body of Christ. We hope to return the hospitality and host them here in Redlands some time soon.

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all.” (2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV)

As we experience the grace, love and fellowship of our triune God, may these things be the characteristics that overflow into the lives of those we meet. Hospitality is a great way to share what God has given to us. Thanks Lord, Jesus for our experience with our extended family and for the beauty of your presence in them. Continue to bless the fellowship of your church that gathers as The Lion and The Lamb Church in Topeka, Kansas.

Bill Born

June 2, 2010
12:42 PM

‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
Hymn by Louisa M. R. Stead

‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon His promise
Just to know Thus saith the Lord

Refrain: Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus
O for grace to trust Him more

Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to trust His cleansing blood
And in simple faith to plunge me
‘Neath the healing, cleansing flood

Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus
Just from sin and self to cease
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest and joy and peace

I’m so glad I learned to trust Him
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend
And I know that He is with me
Will be with me to the end

Bill Born

May 26, 2010
7:10 AM

In my previous post on excellence, I focused on its precursor, humility. I’m not done yet, so here are a few more thoughts. A Christian without humility is an anomaly. The gospel of Jesus Christ declares that, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV) An authentic encounter with the gospel of grace produces humility. It turns a proud and religious Saul into a humble and grace-filled Paul who can say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV) As a worshipper of God, and especially one who seeks to help others to worship him, I cannot be successful without a growing sense of humility. The reason why not, is the very task before me. C.J. Mahaney in his book, Humility, defines it like this. “Humility is honestly assessing ourselves in light of God’s holiness and our sinfulness.” A primary task for worship leaders then is to shed light on God’s holiness, exalting him above all. He is wholly perfect – his character, his purposes, his promises and even his judgments. If we’re doing our job well, leading people to encounter and worship our holy God, there should be an increase in our resulting confession of sin, repentance, and embracing of the grace and forgiveness offered to us through faith in Christ. There should also be an increase in joy- filled celebration, with an overflow of thanksgiving. We should wholeheartedly offer our love and our very selves up to God, for what other response is worthy of what God has given us? These other expressions of worship flow out of seeing God for who He is and embracing what he offers through the gospel, that is, through Jesus Christ. They are expressions of the humble.

Sometimes I wonder how often God is opposed to us in our worship services. The Scriptures state it simply. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 NIV) We may come longing to meet with God, spiritually bankrupt, seeking God’s blessings and answers to prayer. But God might be saying to us,  “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen.” (Isaiah 1:15 NIV) But God also offers this invitation, the solution for those of us who refuse to acknowledge and repent of our sins:

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18 NIV)

The posture of repentance is humbling but so is the receiving of forgiveness through God’s amazing grace. Humility is not something we produce in ourselves. Instead, it is something that God produces in us as we place our faith in who he is and in what he has done for us through Christ (the gospel). There are so many elements we could include in our worship services at Trinity, but I want to always maintain a strong emphasis on God’s holiness and the gospel of grace offered through Jesus Christ. That is what produces humility. A  humble people are a beautiful people and that’s what I want to become personally and as a community of believers at Trinity. Father, please do that work in us as we worship together on Sunday mornings. Amen.

Bill Born

May 12, 2010
9:56 PM

Our hymn of the month for May came alive to me a few summers ago on a family vacation to the Redwoods along the Northern California Coast. We were in the car returning to our campground after a day of sightseeing, listening to a shuffled mix of worship songs on my ipod when Amy Grant’s version of This is My Father’s World began playing. (From her Legacy … Hymns & Faith project. SonLight danced to this version in our May 9 worship services at Trinity.) We stopped talking and joined along in song as all of our senses consumed the beauty around us. It was a moment of worship as we joined with God’s creation in “declaring our Maker’s praise.” It was also a worship moment experiencing God’s presence, and being reminded of his personality, power and purpose together (as the link below to the hymn story will mention). Since then I’ve also come to love Jadon Lavik’s version, named, My Father’s World off his Roots Run Deep project (an outstanding hymn project worth adding to your collection). Lavik presents the hymn as a sweet meditation set to a simple and beautiful arrangement.

Here is a link to a brief yet thorough telling of the This is My Father’s World hymn story.

This is My Father’s World
Hymn by Matlbie D. Babcock, Tune by Franklin L. Sheppard

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; his hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white, declare their maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: he shines in all that’s fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done.
Jesus who died will be satisfied, and earth and heav’n be one.

Alternative ending:
This is my Father’s world: why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King; let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!

Bill Born

May 12, 2010
8:48 AM

“Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” (Psalms 33:3 NIV)

One of the challenges I face as a worship leader is the quest for excellence, both personally and for those I lead and serve on my worship teams. We’ve been slipping a bit lately, evidenced by people coming unprepared to rehearsals and still unpolished on Sunday mornings. I confess that I have slacked a bit in this area. Don’t we owe more to our Lord, each other and our congregation? These we are called to serve with our musical and artistic talents.

Having recently returned from the Thrive Conference at Bayside Church in Roseville, CA, I’ve been inspired anew to gain ground in the area of excellence at Trinity. They do things very well there and it seems to be for the right reasons. However, excellence is not the end-all. There is something greater that comes first. I’ve always and will always hold humility as the precursor to excellence. Humility is one of the Christ-like and Christ-produced qualities that I desire most in me and look for in all who serve on my teams. Humility is what makes excellence an expression of worship to God, putting the spotlight on him as the giver of our talents and the one worthy to be praised through doing our best. Humility is what allows an incredibly talented artist like Lincoln Brewster (the worship leader at Bayside and an incredible musician and worship leader) to play  skillfully and in so doing, put the spotlight on God and not himself. While I’ll never be as talented as Brewster on the guitar, I am responsible to develop my talent/skill to it’s utmost potential, and that, to the glory of God.
So I’d like to think briefly about humility and excellence, allowing the Scriptures to speak truth into these areas. While this spans all service to God, including all arts and technical areas, I will focus mainly on the music ministry for the sake of getting to the point.

Humility

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4 NIV)

The enemies of humility are selfish ambition and vain conceit, exalting myself and my desires above others. Okay, isn’t this the basic struggle (a.k.a. sin) of all mankind? In contrast, humility thinks of others first. This was, in fact, the example that the Lord Jesus gave us (where the passage above is going). In a worship setting we must set selfish ambition and vain conceit aside and instead consider others as more important than ourselves. I think the others in our situation are first and foremost the congregation we serve – this will determine the style of music we do (which may not be our favorite style) and how much time we give to making it excellent (a.k.a. practice). Our greatest goal should be providing excellent and beautiful accompaniment to the sung praises of God’s people. In so doing, we honor God whose Word instructs us to “rather, serve one another in love.” (Galatians 5:13 NIV) (As opposed to serving our sinful nature.) We also serve each other (and love each other) in the band by recognizing that we are all adding a small part to make a beautiful outcome. A good friend of mine explains it like this:

 A band paints a picture. Each instrument is a color and each instrumentalist uses their instrument to add their color to the whole picture. The goal is a beautiful picture. If we’re painting the sky, it’s going to be mostly blue and white, maybe some grey. (Unless of course it’s a sunrise or sunset.) Most of the pictures we paint within the worship service are landscapes, sunrises and sunsets – we gather corporately to “to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalms 27:4 NIV). Certainly at times we ought to focus in on one area. In other words, one instrument or voice may be featured. At other times, none at all. My greatest contribution to a song may in fact be where I’m tacit (not playing at all).

I want our teams to excel at painting beautiful pictures at Trinity church. Musically, I want to produce that which is beautiful within the style that connects best with the culture around us. The same goes for media, drama, dance, art and our use of technology. And all of this is done to the glory of God. Humility enables me to forsake my selfish ambition and vain conceit for the overall purpose of glorifying God and serving each other in love. So this is where we start. “All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (1 Peter 5:5 NIV) Bring on the grace, God! Bring it on and help us to live it out and give it away.

I am truly grateful for the people who serve along side me in the worship ministries at Trinity. Humility is certainly the distinguishing mark of our teams. To this I say thanks to God, and ask him to help us to excel still more!

Bill Born

May 5, 2010
7:44 AM

I’m struggling, wrestling to understand and practice an important part of my role as a pastor and brother-in- Christ. How do I confront sin in other people’s life? How do I encourage people in the process of transformation by God? Transformation is a process of the Holy Spirit and it is his work, not ours. But as a shepherd of his people, he’s given me a role. How do I know? God’s Word tells me to:

“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV)

So, when I observe actions in others that are not right, I am called to use God’s Word to correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. Jesus also warned me elsewhere to care for my own sin first.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Luke 6:41-42 NIV)

I must remember that sin is sin whether it is sexual immorality, pride, greed, etc. I must come humbly and gently, realizing that the same process of transformation through God’s grace in me is what I long to assist in others. I must come with great patience and careful instruction, realizing that transformation is a process that takes place over time. This is hard to do in an “I want immediate results” society! However, he who began a good work in us promises that he will be faithful to complete it. The goal of righteous living is to display the glory of Christ, to live a life that is pleasing to him, that is, a life of obedience motivated out of love for him. This is a life-long process.

Too often, Christianity has been formulized as a list of “don’ts” causing Christians live in this world of paralyzing guilt, trying to measure up to God’s standard and living a false life in front of each other in order to cast the picture that, “I have it all together.” Unfortunately, this is hypocritical. How refreshing to be around people that instead openly confess, “I don’t have it all together – help!” I think it is a proper understanding of the gospel of grace that helps us get to this latter place of honesty. My role then as a pastor and fellow sojourner is to keep the central thing the central thing, helping my people to understand who they are in Christ and then to live that way. The journey of transformation, also called sanctification, is not one of just “trying harder.” Yes, it involves effort on our part, but the motivation for that effort comes from the renewal of our minds – namely proper thinking.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2 NIV)

Abstaining from sexual immorality (the issue in this case) is a command given in God’s Word. We renew our minds by filling it with God’s Word. Then and only then do we come to know God, love God and because of our love for him strive to do that which is his good, pleasing and perfect will. The Scriptures remind us that, “This is  love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,” (1 John 5:3-4 NIV). Of course we discover that it is also good, pleasing and perfect for us to obey. There is no greater joy on earth that can compare to this. This is not burdensome at all, but in fact quite the opposite – completely freeing!

Father, help me to confront sin boldly, but with grace and humility and love and patience. Help me to first confront it in my own life so that I may see clearly in order to help others confront it. I trust that your Holy Spirit goes ahead of me convicting people of sin. I am reminded that it is your kindness that leads us to repentance. That kindness is given to us in Christ Jesus. May my efforts be carried out with kindness and perceived as such. I can’t do this without your help. Amen.

Bill Born

April 28, 2010
7:01 AM

Continued from last post, here’s why I think making corporate worship a priority is important.

“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.” (Philippians 2:1-2 NIV)

1. God created the church and placed highest value on our unity and love for one another. This is seen very clearly in Jesus’ final words to his disciples before his death (recorded in John 13 – 17). There is a blessed unity that results in walking through this life together with other believers. The worship service, specifically the exhortation that comes from God’s Word delivered and taught to us, holds the greatest potential to accomplish like-mindedness, commitment to love, and oneness in spirit and purpose. The more we experience God’s presence together, the more likely we are to be united in these ways. I urge you not to miss out on what God is doing as we corporately gather to worship him. There is no greater joy than being like-minded, having the same love, and being one in spirit and purpose.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6 NIV)

2. I come to the worship service hungry and thirsty for righteousness. I want to know my God who is eternally righteous. I am so fortunate to have a senior pastor who loves the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind and strength, and who loves the church, and takes seriously his role of bringing the teaching of God’s Word to us each week. No matter how much I open the Scriptures on my own or discuss them with others, nothing can edify nor exhort me like the Spirit-inspired, teaching from one who has been gifted by that same Spirit to be a teacher to the Church. Paul says, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”” (Romans 1:17 NIV) The more I know God, the more I understand the gospel, the more I grow to love my Savior, the more I learn to live by faith. The more I realize that it is his work in me through faith that accomplishes that which is pleasing to him, the more I desire him to do that work in me. The result of all this is that I am filled. That is the latter promise that goes with the beatitude.

Our faith can and should certainly be strengthened by our personal Bible study and small group or one-on-one fellowship. In fact, the corporate worship experience is incomplete without it. However, God created the institutional church (with pastors, doctrinal statements, membership, buildings, and elders, etc.) for the believer – the family of those who are followers of “the Way.” The corporate gathering of the church is our primary place to hunger and thirst for righteousness and to be filled. How else can we know the righteousness of God than through his Word spoken to us? The first part of the promise is that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed. I sense that blessing every week that we gather to worship our Lord at Trinity.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1 NIV)

3. I have come to realize that the church is a large family of adopted children. My sinful tendencies cause me to clash with some of my brothers and sisters. At times it would certainly be easier to leave the family than learn to love one another with the Father’s love. Worse than that, I like to put myself in the position of the Father, thinking that I deserve the right to choose who ought to be adopted, and who doesn’t belong. The truth is that none of us belong. All of us are needy and together we can be quite a dysfunctional group. Yet in our Father’s unconditional love he has chosen exactly who he wants to be in his family and he has called us to love each other. No church is perfect because it is composed of people who are “already, but not yet” sanctified. Followers of “the Way” are people who have been made righteous through faith in Christ, but are in the process of learning how to live righteously and love righteously. That process of learning is bound to be messy at times. Jesus knew that his disciples’ challenge would be to love one another and so he said to them, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12-13 NIV) Then he showed them the full extent of his love by offering up his life for them on the cross! I see the Word of God changing us and helping us to love one another in spite of our imperfections and propensity for sin. I see us becoming more diverse as God’s family ought to be. I see love for one another and for God becoming the defining characteristic of our church family – and so it should be!

As the worship pastor responsible for planning and producing our worship gathers each week, I am committed to making our worship service at Trinity a place where we can experience the unity of heart and purpose, the blessing and fullness that result from hungering and thirsting for righteousness together, and the beauty of being the children of God. I thank God for all of you who are and who are yet to become part of my church family at Trinity. I consider it my greatest joy and privilege to encounter God together with you each week, and to consider you my brothers and sisters.

Bill Born

April 21, 2010
8:42 AM

Each week during the welcome and announcements, my eyes scan the congregation for the people that I love, dear friends. Many are the folks on my worship teams. They are my brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, even those whom I’ve not yet met. My heart fills with joy and love and my spirit lifts as I see the ones I love. I know that we are experiencing God together in this most important gathering of the church for the purpose of worshiping him and listening to what he has to say to us together. That experience draws us together bringing unity of heart in purpose. (Of course, I can’t see everyone in our large room, not to mention those who come late to our family gathering. Nevertheless, I try to observe who it is that I am privileged to worship together with that morning.)

I find myself perplexed, no, saddened by the fact that there are many who do not attend church regularly each week. Content with casual attendance, both they and we are the ones who lose out. They are missing out on the family gathering, a weekly reunion and corporate encounter with God, and an important part of the life of the church. I miss them. I miss sharing the worship experience together. There is a unity that results from experience as God speaks to us through the teaching of his Word and our corporate response through worship.

Don’t get me wrong. I by no means equate church attendance with salvation, but I do think that it is part of the way that God sanctifies us (makes us holy) – one of the ways that we draw closer to him, he draws near to us and we subsequently draw closer to each other. His forgiveness and unconditional acceptance of us is based solely on the gospel – on his initiative to rescue and restore us through Jesus Christ and our simple confession of faith in him. God does not give us brownie points for attending church. There is the danger in equating church attendance with a spiritual judgement of who is more or less spiritual. I do not intend to do that. Yet that very gospel is what we corporately proclaim, celebrate and gather together each week to let shape and transform us by the renewing of our minds and the engagement of our hearts. There is a danger in considering attendance at church as one of many options on par with competing sporting events, family gatherings, home improvement projects, and time to sleep or relax. Yet, I think many approach it that way. No! Participation in corporate worship is God-ordained and commanded. Hebrews reminds us, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25 NIV)

Okay, I’m the worship pastor. I should feel that the worship service is of utmost importance. To design an opporunity to corporately encounter the Living God each week is in fact the primary role of my job. However, I felt this way far before becoming a full-time pastor. Next post I will share three reasons why corporate worship should be a high priority for those of us who profess faith in Christ.

Bill Born