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Worship Leader Essentials

Two "essentials" that I think are hugely important in the lives of those who lead worship at The Orchard:

AUTHENTICITY & DEPTH.

Authenticity.  Being real and willing to lead out of their own, personal journey.  Not afraid to be honest and transparent about their struggles, pain, and brokenness.  The same on stage as they are in every day life and conversation (have you ever heard a worship leader who stands up and talks to an audience in a totally different voice than they normally talk in?)  Someone who others can look to and say to themselves, "I get that person...they're not all that different from me." 

Depth.  If the worship leader has an empty soul.....then the only thing they'll really have to offer is authenticity and talent....and neither of those are enough as far as I'm concerned.  I want worship leaders who have taken the time to LISTEN...and get quiet.  Who make it a priority to wrestle through the scriptures and songs they'll be leading people through.  Leaders whose hearts are freshly inspired by the beauty and goodness of God....and who understand that a huge part of what they do in leading worship is sharing that beauty and goodness with others.

I suppose those are pretty important essentials for all of us as followers of Jesus.  But they're especially important to me when it comes to those who are standing on stage leading our community into worship each weekend.

Worship Leaders & Pastors - I'd love to hear from you.  What "essentials" are at the top of your list?

Hope.

 

This past Monday marked five years since my dad passed away.  It was a good day actually.  Spent it with my mom, sister, and our families. It's always good to be together on "the day." 

What a five years it's been.  On one hand, there's been a lot of mixed emotions as I've tried to journey past the loss of my father.  Grief is a crazy thing.  Just when you think you've conquered it, you realize you've been duped. 

At the same time, however, my life has also been full of overwhelming joy as I've watched God pour his blessing upon my family and church community.  And so of course, I'm extremely thankful.

But the thing that I'm becoming more and more thankful for as times goes by, is this thing called hope.  For the first time in my life, I think I'm finally starting to "get it".  In fact, I'm not even sure I was able to truly grasp the depth or idea of hope until I found myself in desperate need of it.  And now, I find myself becoming more and more dependent upon it as each day passes. 

From my journal (8/09):

Hope tells me that...

The future will be better than today.
What's broken will one day be fixed.
What hurts will one day be healed.
What is wrong will one day be made right.
What has been missed, will one day be compensated for.

I'm choosing to embrace this with both hands.  

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13

Valuing The Journey...

Recently, Amanda and I, and our three kids all piled into our super sweet sexy mini-van for a six-hour road trip up to Minnesota. And I’ll be honest...  The first couple hours of the trip were.......well, they were a mess.  Horrible actually.  Traffic was out of control, my kids were acting possessed by bored demons on crack, I was tired, and frankly.....I just wanted to GET THERE! 

Which is EXACTLY what the problem was!

I had become so focused on “getting there” that I wasn’t (at all) enjoying or valuing the journey itself.

I think that’s an easy thing to let happen in our own lives isn’t it?  We become so focused on just “getting” to the destination (Heaven/Calling/Destiny/Dream Job/Fill in the Blank...) that we don’t value the journey of actually getting there! 

Which is a problem.

Because the journey is the place where God seems to form us and shape us into the people He created us to be.

The bumpy road.  The loud children.  The heavy traffic.  The flat tires.  The break downs.  It’s all a part of the journey, isn’t it?

Yet, even in those moments I have to believe that there’s something happening beneath the surface.  That there’s something in me that is being formed and shaped.....and that is somehow going to make the destination all that much sweeter.

So let’s value the journey - not just the destination.

It sure helped our road trip once I made that decision. (And seriously, thanks Amanda for the motivation...)

Wanna hear more?  Click here (direct .mp3 link) to download last weekend's talk at The Orchard where I broke this down further and gave a few practical ways we can value the journey.

Captured by His love...

It's hard to believe, but this past Sunday, October 12th, marked four years since my dad passed away.  And even though the pain and grief is not nearly as sharp as it has been in years past, it still seems so unreal at times.  But nonetheless, I am so thankful for God's healing in mine and my family's lives.  God has been good to us.

Of course, it's almost impossible to remember my dad and not be reminded of how The Orchard's story is not just a story about God changing a church - but also one about God changing my dad.  In fact, this past weekend at The Orchard, I shared something my dad wrote in one of his journals back in November of 2003.  God used this to touch a lot of hearts so I wanted to share it here with you.  It's a rather beautiful reflection of what God was doing deep in his heart towards the end of his life. 

November 23, 2003
4:31AM

I do not know how to describe what has happened to me. I only know that deep within me, I mean really deep, it seems that something, connected to an understanding of God’s love, has changed me.

I sense that this change is a forever thing. It seems that God never goes back on what He does.

I have been captured by His love.

It is something that I must admit, I never knew existed like I am now experiencing. It is like I have stepped into a new dimension where the height and depth are beyond my comprehension.

I am consumed with a passion to tell people about what I have experienced for the sole purpose of helping them to know that they can have it too.

This love relationship offered to me and everyone by the Father is beyond anything I could ever imagine. I am overwhelmed that I have been privileged to experience it.  I know that everyone else can experience it too....

Love is powerless unless it is consented to.

I must confess that I am coming to understand this, and am so grateful for the honor of being loved by the Most High God, and yet I understand that since he is love he can do nothing else but love us.

We were created to be the objects of his love.

When He is invited inside a person, and is allowed to bring their spirit to life, he will love them forever. 


    • He offers them forgiveness for all sin, past, present and future
    • He offers them leadership into the paths of righteousness
    • He gives them everything they need, and
    • He encourages them to ask Him for anything else they want 


The Father delights in answering the requests of those who belong to the Son.

I have a glimpse of what the institutional church has allowed to happen. It has presented a picture of God and Christ that is inconsistent with who they are.  As a product of that church, I desire to liberate those who are caught up in it; to save others from it. 

I have a passion to take people who are turned off by religion or to religion and turn them on to Jesus Christ and turn them in to devoted followers of Christ.

Lowering Defenses

Another clip from an interview with me and Mike Jones on the Creative Worship Tour. 

Find more videos like this on Creative Worship Tour

Journey Leading - Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

Continuing sharing some of the things we are intentional about in our weekend gatherings knowing that everybody is at a different place in their spiritual journey...

Avoiding extreme categorizations. 

This is huge, because as communicators, it can be easy to make assumptive or black and white statements about where people are at in their journey. 

For example, let’s say I’m teaching on the subject of generosity...  And in building tension with where people are at, I might decide to talk about how the opposite of generosity might be “greed.” 

I could approach it making this type of statement:

“As much as we know that generosity is a great way to live, the truth is......all of us find ourselves being greedy in our lives, don’t we?” 

Ok, well that’s an ugly statement.  Even if it’s true!  But it's one that will more than likely raise defenses quickly - which then cuts a lot of people off from hearing what you have to say next. 

So what if instead of making such a black and white statement, we tried saying something more like this:

“Let’s say that on one end of the spectrum we have “extreme generosity” and on the other end we have what's called “extreme greed.”  Well chances are, there are probably very few of us here that would categorize ourselves as being 'extremely greedy.'  But yet, on the other hand, I wonder how many of us could actually say that we are way over here on THIS end of the spectrum (extreme generosity)? 

Or let’s say you were to look at the last year or two of your life....  What DIRECTION have you been headed on this spectrum?  Has your life been pulled the direction of extreme generosity?  Or.....has it been headed the opposite direction?"

This type of approach allows people the opportunity to get honest and identify FOR THEMSELVES where they’re at in their journey.  Chances are, most people would not categorize themselves as either extremely generous or extremely greedy - most would probably find themselves somewhere more in the middle.  So to block people into one of the two categories does nothing but cause unnecessary defenses to rise and people to disconnect before they even hear what the solution is!

(On a side note - it’s one thing for the scriptures to offend someone...  There’s not much we can do about that.  But it’s completely different for me - as the communicator - to offend in a way that shuts down half my audience.)

The point in a talk like this would be to help people learn how to live in such a way that they are constantly moving in the direction TOWARDS extreme generosity.  No one gets there overnight.  And for most people, imagining themselves going from where they’re currently at to the far other end of the spectrum overnight is overwhelming and unrealistic.

I’m aiming for ONE MORE STEP forward.  That’s it.  And I’m trusting that because God is already at work in their lives, that His Spirit will continue working in them and will get them where He wants them to be.

Journey Leading - Part 2

Part 1 Here.

Every person in our church community is at a different place in their spiritual journey.

For us at The Orchard, we are continually finding ways to infuse this awareness in with how we communicate and teach people in our large, weekend gatherings.  For example, we are intentional about....

1.  Recognizing and acknowledging it!

There are a LOT of ways to do this, but we are intentional about doing this during our welcome time at every weekend gathering.  Usually, it sounds something like this:

“Our mission here at The Orchard is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.  And what that simply means is that no matter where you might be at in your spiritual journey, first of all - we’re glad you’re here.  But secondly, our hope is that we can help you take your next step forward on that journey.” 

Quite often, I’ll say things like this during my talks:

“One of the things that I love about The Orchard is our diversity!  If you’ve been around our community for any length of time, you’ll notice that we are diverse in so many ways - ethnically, in age, and of course, spiritually.  Which is why we work so hard at being the kind of community that you can be a part of, regardless of where you’re at in your spiritual journey....to learn more and experience this way of life called ‘following Jesus.’ 

2.  Helping people locate where they’re at in their journey.

Often times, I’ll wrap up my talks by having a few moments of reflection where I’ll ask the question, “Where are you at right now in your spiritual journey?  And what does your next step look like?”

To help people think through this, I will often times say things like:

“For some of you, you are very new to this journey and it’s just a HUGE deal that you are even sitting in church today.... Perhaps for you......your next step is making the decision to come back again next week.”

“For others of you, you’ve been learning more and more about the ways of Jesus.....you’re pretty well convinced that following Him is the best way to live your life......and so for you, your next step is to reach out to him to solidify that desire....”

“Perhaps you’ve been following Jesus for a while now - maybe even for years....  Maybe your next step is a matter of taking that step of faith in your life that God has been leading you towards.....”

You get the idea, right?  And of course, there are not just three “categories” - these are just three examples.  Really, it’s just a matter of us being sensitive at each gathering to however God might be working in people’s lives.

On a side note, I think it’s important that we don’t forget that God is at work in people’s lives LONG before they step foot into our doors.  For some reason, there is this crazy idea out there that says, “As soon as we get them IN....then God will start doing something great.”  What the heck!?  Why do we think that God only resides in our buildings and services?!  No way. 

God is so much greater than that.  And He is at work in people and places everywhere. 

(I’m reminded of walking through the rampant sex-trade districts of Bangkok during a visit last year, yet feeling God’s presence and work happening around me in a very strong way.) 

Part 3 tomorrow...

Get rid of the leash...

On January 1st, 2008 I sat in my office and spent a couple of hours reflecting back over the past twelve months of my life.  Using my blog, personal journals, and calendars as a reference point, I created a list of what I guess I'll call "unusual moments." 

The list was made up of everything from conversations I had with certain people, to events that I went out of my way to attend.  But the one common denominator between them all was the fact that God used every one of them to stretch, challenge, and ultimately change the way I think about myself, ministry, leadership and His call on my life.

One of those "events" on my list was one that hosted by a good friend of mine named Perry Noble.  The event was called Unleash. 

Interestingly enough, the conference really wasn't advertised much.  In fact, if I remember right, Perry asked a handful of his friends to blog about it and viola!  People showed up!  (How viral is that??)

Anyway....  My time at Unleash proved to be one of those "moments" in my life when God seemed to challenge my heart on several levels.  And here I am a year later, and despite the extremely busy season I was in at that time, I can honestly say that I am STILL glad I went!  (Unfortunately, I can't say that about every event I've attended over this past year...) 

My time at Unleash wasn't about trying to emulate Perry or Newspring or anyone else for that matter.  (Don't get me started on that...)  It was about being around something bigger than myself.  It was about walking away feeling refreshed and empowered to pursue being everything God has called me to be. 

It really was a pivotal moment for me.  And our team.

So....with all that said...

The good news?  Perry and the gang are doing it again this year. 

The bad news?  I'm going to miss it!  ARGH!!

But seriously, if you feel stuck in your leadership or ministry right now - you may want to consider making the trip to Anderson, South Carolina for Unleash on March 13th.  Even if you feel like your ministry style differs from Perry or NewSpring - GREAT!  But still consider going.  It's so much more than just about "style" or "approach."  It's about witnessing God at work in a significant way in a local church.  Which is always a beautiful thing.

Learn more about Unleash.

Smudged!

Don't you just hate it when your lenses get smudged?  Man, I do.  Can't stand it.  Yet it happens.  It's unavoidable.

Same thing in our lives.  It's so easy for our mental lenses to get smudged, isn't it? 

Think about it...  Someone smudges our lenses by doing or saying something that feels hurtful or embarrassing....  And if we're not careful, what happens?  Our perception of them ALSO becomes smudged and before we know it, we begin filtering everything that person says or does through those smudged lenses.

It can happen when we go through something painful in our lives too.  Suddenly, that "smudge" tells, or in some cases, confirms that we are victims and we eventually find ourselves living life with a "victim" mentality - which ultimately impacts us in so many unhealthy ways.

Same thing can happen when we face conflict in our workplaces or in our communities.  Suddenly, we see that conflict and all future ones through those smudged lenses.

So what do we do? 

We clean our lenses.  Or in some cases, if the lenses have gotten severely scratched or damaged, we get NEW ONES. 

Have you ever noticed how much better everything looks through a new set of lenses?  Suddenly everything is clear and clean!  The world looks better!  Our work associates look better!  Our friends and family look better!  (or in some cases worse - depending on how you look at it...but we won't go there.)

Anyway - all that to share three things I read in Harvard Business Review this morning.  Three types of "new lenses" that we can view challenges/crises/conflicts through - and then the question that each one asks:

Reverse Lens - "What would the other person in this conflict say and in what ways might that be true?"

Long Lens - "How will I most likely view this situation in six months?"

Wide Lens - "Regardless of the outcome of this issue, how can I grow and learn from it?"

Some good stuff from October issue of HBR.  Article entitled: "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time" by Tony Schwartz.

Now I've got to go clean my lenses!

1:06AM EST (Friday)

Just wrapped up my final draft of tomorrow's this afternoon's talk here at Innovate 2007.  My topic?  "Innovation in Leading Change."  And of course I can't talk about change without sharing the story of The Orchard's journey of change and transition.  Can't wait!

Before I go, I just have to say how much I love the heartbeat of Granger Community Church.  These guys are awesome!  Their hospitality and care for our team has been unbelievable.  They have gone so far out of their way to make sure we are well taken care of.  Thank you everyone!  And especially you Lindsay!

I'm so sorry we weren't able to plan a blogger gathering!  Our schedule has been super crazy TIGHT since we've arrived.  BUT!  Don't forget about Kem's blogging breakout session tomorrow.  I think I might have to crash it!  Watch out Kem!

Anyway....  I'm off to bed.  Aiming for 6:00am EST.  Wake up call is ready.  The question is - will I be??  Probably not... 

G'nite.