Wow! "How many Kings" by Downhere - live

We are SO doing this song at New Hope!

Using Secular Music In Worship

"The fact is that secular music speaks to people--seekers, unchurched, and churched alike ... because many secular songs articulate universal human needs. The reason so many songs are written about love is because it's a universal desire, and one that the Bible affirms when it tells us that God's very nature is love. A secular song in church is so attractive, then, because every attendee is likely to be familiar with it and comfortable listening to its truth ... Most people expect a teacher to use non-biblical stories to illustrate a biblical truth ... At Saddleback [we use] secular songs as illustrations pointing people to biblical truth."

-Rick Muchow

So how would that work? I did a set of worship plans recently for a Rockbridge class and here is how I could see us using secular music to illustrate biblical truth and help get the people attuned to where we are headed in a thematic way.

Here's a worship plan I wrote recently for a class at Rockbridge Seminary.

Today's service will focus our attention on the power of Almighty God to heal our hurts through the power of Christ.

How Long (U2) - Praise Band and team

During the time the congregation is filing in and preparing for worship, we'll set the tone for the service as well as connect the biblical theme to the culture by doing these warm-up songs.

Psalm 12 - Lay Reader

The idea again is to begin building the atmosphere for examination and reflection on today's theme.

Prayer - Associate Pastor

Blessed Be the Name - Congregation and praise team

Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) – Congregation and team

Distribution of pottery shards to each attender. Sharpies are in each chair back. As the video of "Everybody Hurts" runs, we ask each member to write a hurt that they have had in their life on the shard of pottery.

Everybody Hurts (REM) - video (run until 4:52)

Message for today – iHurt – Hebrews 2

Call for response – congregation asked to come forward and bring their shard of pottery as they come. They exchange the shard for the unleavened bread and juice.

Potter's Hand - Praise Band

The artists take the shards and start placing them within a frame prepared for the purpose. Once everyone has come forward and returned to their seats after having taken communion, the arts pastor lifts the completed mosaic of a cross to show the congregation what God can do with their hurts.

Prayer of Thanksgiving by the pastor.

Offering and Announcements

I'm Trading My Sorrows – Congregation and Praise team (closing and dismissal)

iWonder

"If there is one characteristic more than others that contemporary public worship needs to recapture it is this awe before the surpassingly great and gracious God."
Henry Sloane Coffin

I'm working this week on what will probably be the first of a series of messages on the iLife theme. With the new iPhone 3G being launched Friday, I expect some people will be aware of the whole "i" deal. I thought about going at it using the five purposes, and still may do that. But I'm thinking that maybe a more oblique approach will help the truths get a audience in a more effective way.

So instead of:
iWorship
iLearn
iServe
iTell
iGo

iWonder
iDoubt
iRoll Over and go back to sleep :)
iSay nothing
iStay here

What do you think? Well, the first two are pretty firm anyway. :)

The sense of wonder at just who God is and what He has done in Jesus should captivate every Christ follower and not just enrich our lives personally, but drive us out of the comfort zone and into life with passion and purpose. The core course on worship I'm enrolled in this term at Rockbridge and in particular the interaction with the professor and an amazing group of students, is really driving me to search out the deeper things about this most important part of being His.

One of my favorite preachers of all time was Vance Havner. One of his greatest sermons was title "Have You Lost the Wonder". I'm praying for that kind of insight and power to be available through the message Sunday.

New Hope @ Worship 06 July 2008

Some days just seem to be "thin places". The Celtic Christians, who kept the flame of Christ burning through the Dark Ages, thought that certain places were more apt to lead one closer to God. Of course, you hope every time you gather people will find themselves near to Jesus. But there do seem to be times when there's a sense - a heightened sense - of the possibilities.

We debuted a new song by Chris Tomlin - "Your Grace Is Enough" Just the praise team this week but we'll roll next week.

"Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing)" - great uptempo song

"Amazed (Lord I'm Amazed By You)" - "How wide, how deep, how great is your love for me"

"Here I Am To Worship" - Normally we would use this at the beginning, but it just fit.

"Change My Heart O God"

The last week of the "Identity Theft" series. I wanted to take it all and drive to a conclusion that we are the identity of Christ here and now as believers and MUST live it out loud. There's so much NOISE about Christianity and so little of the pure simplicity of Jesus' call to "Follow Me."

Rockbridge Seminary Assignment - Write A Poem

In the class I'm enrolled in this term, we are studying the theology and practice of worship. Our hope is that we'll learn more about what worship is, how it has been done - so that we'll worship differently - deeper - and help others do the same.

Rockbridge's seminary experience is different. Up to this class I would have used "practicality" as a descriptor. But in this class, I was asked to do something so far outside the box that practicality doesn't do it justice. Michelangelo covered a ceiling with paint once. Did the job. But no one who walks into the Sistine Chapel says, "Wow, that really covered well."

Maybe it's because I love words that the assignment touched me so. We were asked to write a worship poem that expressed the worship of our heart to God. I write all the time - blogs like this one, devotionals, and of course sermons.

But I've never written... to worship.

Until today.



Whatever I was, is dead
I gave it up willingly, without knowing what that meant
and yet, I would never take it back
It is His

Whatever I am, is alive
Life came within, and learning what it meant to live
and so, I live to give more, ever more
I am His

Learning About Worship

Okay, tomorrow a new term at Rockbridge begins. I'll be enrolled in my last "core" course.

The Theology & Practice of Worship W5301
An examination of how to provide biblical worship in today's culture. Learners will study the doctrine of God, explore the biblical theology of worship, examine the heart of the worship leader, and learn how to work with a team to develop worship experiences in the church. (Formerly named “The Life of Worship”)

This is something I really need. How do you "provide biblical worship" in the average sized church? We all have seen what can happen with waves of talented musicians and vocalists. But what about in places like here?

Some of you are aware that New Hope has operated without a worship leader for two years now. At first we used a group of girls - teenagers and younger, as a praise team. What they brought to the table was sincerity and a sense among the congregation of appreciation that they were New Hope's kids. Over the last few months, we've added some adults to the mix and have been very grateful for their willingness and hearts.

As a pastor, my hope from the music is that it takes us nearer to God as a congregation, just as I hope that the message I prepare and deliver does. With that in mind, I have been choosing the music for the last two years trying to make that happen. I love music and love to worship God through it. But I'm not a musician like someone who is called to lead worship is. My wife Bunny does a great job in getting the praise team ready every week, but she is confined to playing the digital piano on Sunday morning, so we really don't have a worship leader.

I've been praying that God sends us someone to lead, because I believe we are leaving a lot on the table each week. The praise team is great, but I think we need a point person for worship that can "see" what is possible and lead us there. That will have to be a God thing, for providing for such a person is way outside our ability as a congregation right now. Living here is expensive, and living here as a church is too. I hope and pray God will grant our request. But until then, I need everything I can get about worship.

So tomorrow morning the adventure begins. We'll be using a text by Robert Webber, who was until his passage recently, one of the more irenic spirits in the worship spectrum. I have a couple of his books, but not this one - Worship Old and New.

(He has a couple of new ones out - Ancient-Future Worship: Proclaiming and Enacting Gods Narrative (Ancient-Future)and Who Gets to Narrate the World?: Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals , that I will order along with the class text.)

There's a lot going on in churches today, and I am really feeling like we are about to recapture our sense of worship. We're far enough along that the battles of the past are almost gone, and now we can use the best of what lies behind us while always looking ahead.

So stay tuned.

I Think I Heard Jesus Last Night

Give thanks to the God of heaven. His faithful love endures forever.

Psalms 136:26 (NLT)
We've been meeting during the weeks leading up to Easter in a special time of worship on Sunday nights. The object is to grow closer to God and each other as we explore just what Easter cost God and just what it means for us. So I've planned each service with the aim to do as much as we can together. No sermon, more sharing.

Each week I've used certain symbols to remind us of what God has done. We had "veils" of paper that we tore as we contemplated what God did through Jesus' death on the cross in tearing the veil in the temple that separated the people from the presence of God. We had bread baking one night in the sanctuary as we celebrated communion. We wore name badges last night that proclaimed us "guilty" that we took off and affixed to the cross to testify that through Christ's death, we were made right with God.

And I've used many different videos - both music and drama, to help us grasp how wide, and how deep the love of God is for us.

My hope is that we have experienced the presence of God together these past few weeks.

But last night, I think I heard Jesus' voice.

I had passed out a sheet of paper which had on it a list of Scriptures that told of God's love for us. I began by reading the first verse, and then each person to my right read the next verse.

Sitting there in the stillness, hearing the voices of these people I've grown to love so much read the words of God's love letter... just took my breath away. Each person read. Some have strong and clear voices, and you could hear the conviction in them. Others spoke softly, but clearly in love. Our friend Allan uncharacteristically stayed to worship with us. He's developmentally disabled, but can read. With the help of his friend Joe Stoy, Allan became a part of our expression of love for God. Then the wavering voices of Robert and Virginia Hughes, aged saints among us were testimonies not just to the lives they have lived, but for Who they have lived them.

It was an experience with the Body of Christ I will never, ever forget.

At the end of the circle was Ian, the youngest among us. The number of verses ended with two repetitions of "His love endures forever." His mother and then his father read those. Ian looked at the paper and at his parents and then spoke "His love endures forever."

Yes it does. And through the voices of God's people, young and old, I think I heard Jesus.

Worship At New Hope 24 Feb 2008

Lots of worse places to be today than the Emerald Coast. :) Today dawned beautiful and I was praying that we'd see people encounter God together. I believe we did. One of our friends' sister, who is dying from cancer pretty soon, was with us from SC. Most everyone knew her situation and I was so gratified to see people reach out to her, and so humbled to realize God had put me in place today with this Scripture.

This morning we continued the "Red Letters" series with a look at Jesus' words in Matthew 6:19-34 "First Things First" I'm going to try and embed the ppt later using a new tool I found today. Zoho.com

All the Earth Will Sing Your Praises - great opener
Lord I Lift Your Name On High - yes, we did the motions. Great warmth everytime though.
Shout To the Lord - don't sing it often, but it's like a hymn and people SING it!
In Christ Alone - rich, rich theologically
Come Just As You Are - right with the thrust of the message



As I closed I rolled in the bridge illustration which tracked very well with the passage. My prayer is that God spoke and is speaking to several people who were there.

EVENING WORSHIP FEBRUARY 24, 2008

Worship Theme: “Whole”
Please take a piece of broken pottery as we begin our worship. (The idea was to help people connect with the power of the cross in our lives and release our brokeness into its terrible beauty. We need to accept Jesus' invitation to be made whole.)

PRAYER

Video: The Gentle Healer - Michael Card

MEDITATION DURING THE VIDEO

FIRST READING
28 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me— watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matt 11:28-30 (MSG)

SECOND READING

7 If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. 2 Cor 4:7 (MSG)

Video: “The Simple Complexity of Easter” - from sermon spice

THIRD READING
15 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. 16 For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels— everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. 17 He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. 18 And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
He was supreme in the beginning and— leading the resurrection parade— he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he's there, towering far above everything, everyone. 19 So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. 20 Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe— people and things, animals and atoms— get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the Cross. Col 1:15-20 (MSG)

SHARING
If you have something in your life that is broken, that is hurting, that needs fixed, write it on the piece of broken pottery. You might choose the smooth side or the rough side. In a minute, as the video plays, we’re going to come and place those broken pieces beside the beautiful cross. (This really, really worked well with people writing their needs on the pottery. I hope Bunny will turn it into a piece of art, but it's already a poema.)

Video: “Mighty Is the Power of the Cross” - Chris Tomlin

PRAYER BEFORE COMMUNION

PERSONAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

EACH PERSON COMES AND TAKES COMMUNION WHEN THEY ARE READY. TAKE A PIECE OF BREAD AND TAKE A CUP OF GRAPE JUICE. WHEN WE ALL HAVE THEM, WE WILL FIRST EAT THE BREAD, THEN DRINK THE JUICE.


Video: Grace Like Rain


CLOSING PRAYER

This has been a very stretching undertaking for me. There's so much less of the typical sermonic preparation in this and far more of the creative. Working to get people to drop their masks and enter into "communion" with God and with each other for this brief period of time is a real challenge. And a blessing.

New Hope @ Worship 17 Feb 2008

It's a holiday weekend and I had a feeling going in, plus some knowledge, that attendance might be lower, and it was. Weather was rolling our way as well, but we were still blessed with a warm crowd in both services. I won't belabor the point, but I pretty much sabotaged the morning service with an inattention to time. We got home at 12:35. Yeah, way late. Have to do a better job of culling when I get a text I'm so passionate about.

Worship Music

Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing)
Holy Is the Lord
Breathe
Holy Holy Holy
I Need Thee Every Hour

Message: There's Something You Need To Know - John 15

I used two clips in the message (added 11 minutes I should have allowed for, but very strong messages in both) First was from an ER episode called "Atonement" that I discovered only the night before. Link and the second was from Sermonspice called "An Unspoken Plea"

Both incredibly powerful and I hope they spoke to people's hearts. I went in hoping to show what God's heart was all about and challenging the people to match up with that. But I got carried away. So I'll learn from that.

Sunday nights during Lent we're trying some alternative worship. Here's the layout of it as we did it last night.

EVENING WORSHIP FEBRUARY 17, 2008
PRAYER
Veils
How Deep the Father’s Love For Us - Video {From You Tube}

"By this time it was noon, and darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the thick veil hanging in the Temple was torn apart." Luke 23:44, 45, NLT.

MEDITATION DURING THE VIDEO
As you realize that God has torn away the barriers between Him and you, tear your veil from top to bottom. (Very powerful to hear each individual come to that realization and tear his or her veil. Awesome sound.)

FIRST READING
"Once when Jesus had been out praying, one of his disciples came to him as he finished and said, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." He said, "This is how you should pray: "Father, may your name be honored. May your Kingdom come soon. Give us our food day by day. And forgive us our sins--just as we forgive those who have sinned against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation.""
Luke 11:1-4, NLT.

Religion or Relationship? Video - Bible ("You don't fix faith. It fixes you." From You Tube)

SECOND READING
Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this illustration: "Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You would say to him, ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ He would call out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and we are all in bed. I can’t help you this time.’ But I tell you this--though he won’t do it as a friend, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you what you want so his reputation won’t be damaged. "And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks." Luke 11:4-10, NLT.

(I gave a couple of minutes of context and application to today and then asked these questions to start people talking)

SHARING

What was your biggest answered prayer? What was your toughest unanswered one?

(Great time of sharing between people who normally are very reserved.)

PRAYER BEFORE COMMUNION

PERSONAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

EACH PERSON COMES AND TAKES COMMUNION WHEN THEY ARE READY. TAKE A PIECE OF BREAD AND TAKE A CUP OF GRAPE JUICE. WHEN WE ALL HAVE THEM, WE WILL FIRST EAT THE BREAD, THEN DRINK THE JUICE.

(Two weeks in a row? In a Baptist church? It is a powerful symbol)

TAKE ONE OF THE SLIPS FROM THE BASKET AND READ IT AS THE VIDEO PLAYS.

The slips were the Tozer quote - "Anything God has done anywhere, He can do here. Anything God has ever done anytime, He can do now. Anything God has ever done for anyone, He can do for you." So keep on seeking, keep on asking, keep on knocking.

Video: A Living Prayer (Allison Krauss - off You Tube)

CLOSING PRAYER

My wife, who's blog is linked to the left, felt the Spirit there far more powerfully than in the morning service. "That was worship." I'm praying that as we press out from where we've always been that I hear more people say that, and see more people involved.

New Hope At Worship - 10 Feb 2008

Interesting Sunday at New Hope. We have had so many people out sick the last few weeks that I've wondered about providing everyone with webcams and going internet church, or equipping people with masks and antibacterial sprays. But Sunday dawned with beautiful weather and we enjoyed a pretty good crowd.

Worship Theme - Red Letters, Living A Faith That Bleeds
Scriptural Passages of Focus: Matthew 5:17-48

Here I Am To Worship
How Can I Keep From Singing
Call Upon His Name
A Shield About Me
Have Thine Own Way

Sunday night, we ditched our small groups in favor of worship. Here's the layout below.

EVENING WORSHIP FEBRUARY 10, 2008
(I had arranged the chairs in a circle as much as I could with the communion table in the middle. The "elements" were freshly baked bread (thanks Diane) from a bread maker that was cooking all afternoon and had filled the sanctuary with the aroma, and Welch's in typical plastic cups. The lighting was subdued. I handed out a paper on which I had listed every Scripture dealing with relationships between believers.)

PRAYER

VIDEO – SING TO JESUS – FERNANDO ORTEGA (off You Tube, downloaded with Download helper extension and played with the free VLC player) if you haven't seen it, go and prepare to worship.

HYMN: “COME YE SINNERS, POOR AND NEEDY” - Bunny sang (first time ever in a lead way at church - and it was great) and Sean played and did a great job adding some Appalachian feel to it. Raw, sparse, and rare. Very affecting.

MEDITATE ON SCRIPTURE (I asked those present to take a minute or two to look over the list of Scripture and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them through it, examining their practices of these admonitions and instructions.)

FIRST READING

"Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others. God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don’t just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."

Romans 12:4-10, NLT.

TESTIMONIES OF GOD’S GRACE - note: We actually did have people give testimonies of what God had done in their lives through others who were there. New Hope is normally not very demonstrative and this was a major big deal.

SECOND READING

"Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ."

1 Peter 1:21-2:5, NLT.

VIDEO – IF WE ARE THE BODY – CASTING CROWNS ( Again off You Tube. It was a slide show with the music behind it. A little jarring since it was more rock than what we had heard up to this point, but that was my intention.)

PRAYER BEFORE COMMUNION

VIDEO – LORD HAVE MERCY (Bunny had created a slide show to run along with the song by Eaghmon Haslip, and it was awesome)

PERSONAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION ( I read the scripture where Paul asks those present at the Lord's Supper to examine themselves given what they have been doing when they gathered for the Lord's Supper) Then we prayed.

EACH PERSON COMES AND TAKES COMMUNION WHEN THEY ARE READY. BREAK OFF A PIECE OF BREAD AND TAKE A CUP OF GRAPE JUICE. (We had NEVER done this before)

HYMN: GIVE ME JESUS – FERNANDO ORTEGA (We sang this as a closing hymn.)

CLOSING PRAYER

I was grateful to be in worship yesterday. The Spirit really moved.

And so...

"These days, people can get good teaching, wonderful music, and excellent writing, whether through iPods, TV, or online. They learn to shop around and pick and choose. Then they expect the same high quality in their local church. A generation ago, the average person learned to accept his home pastor and was faithful to his local church. But now, people's appetites for excellence have been heightened."

-Bryan Wilkerson is the senior pastor of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts. Taken from "5 Kinds of Christians" in the Fall 2007 issue of Leadership journal.

So what does that say about our task in smaller churches and the reality we face every week in "satisfying" that sort of consumer? Should we try? Or is church counter-cultural at its core.

I'm going to have to chew on that one for a while.

Can We Take A Free Ride?

Can we take a free ride in worship?



Many of the most cutting edge churches are incorporating secular music into their presentation on Sunday. I used the word presentation because I'm genuinely worried about calling that worship and I don't want to label what someone else is doing negatively unnecessarily.

But I really, really, really have a hard time with this. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to trot out the "regulative principle" or any such here, but I thought worship was designed by God to be oriented... toward God.

Am I off base, hopelessly fossilized?