Leadership

Transitioning Well

Post a Comment » Written on May 3rd, 2013     
Filed under: Ethics, Health, Leadership, Local Church, Vocation and Call

transition-101-bannerToday’s post is written by Matt Nightingale, Director of Worship Ministries at Redeemer Covenant Church in Tulsa, OK.

What does it mean to transition gracefully? As pastors and worship leaders, transition – sometimes radical transition – is often an “occupational hazard.” I’ve been serving in worship ministry at Redeemer now for 3-1/2 years, but last month I announced a transition. In July, I’ll start a new call at Redwood Covenant in Santa Rosa, California.

Transition may be a fairly common thing for those of us in full-time ministry, but it is never easy. I find myself in such a strange place… truly sad to leave the wonderful people of Redeemer, yet so excited to join the wonderful people of Redwood. From one RCC to another. It’s like I’m living in two very different realities, deeply desiring to serve faithfully and finish strong in Tulsa while at the same time looking forward to the new experiences God is calling me into and making plans for my first few months in Santa Rosa.

My question today: What are YOUR stories of transition? What was it like for you, your family and your churches? Share your advice and experiences… How can we follow God’s call with grace, blessing the congregations we’re leaving while embracing the new congregations to which we’re called?



Still

1 Comment » Written on January 25th, 2013     
Filed under: Culture, Leadership, Missional, Order of Worship

Today’s post is written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

Over the last few months I’ve been part of a “cohort” (whatever that means) of other pastors around Kansas City Metro, led by Brad Brisco and Lance Ford of the FORGE:America Mission Network. We’ve been discussing what it means to be “missional,” the sent people of God. The missional church movement, with its roots in the emerging church movement (which was soooo ’90’s) has been a strong critic of Consumer Christianity; we are not here for ourselves, we have been “called out” to be a blessing to the world. It’s all very biblical stuff, it’s a message our churches desperately need to hear, and it’s a message we desperately need to enact because it is a call to return to the roots of our faith.

In and amongst the large questions of “missional,” however, we worship pastors can often feel lost. It’s all very senior-pastory stuff, very big-vision, very theological and in some ways, very abstract. But when the rubber meets the road, it also calls into question one of our fundamental reasons for being worship pastors: the worship gathering. It’s why we were hired in the first place: the (usually) Sunday morning gathering has long been a staple of Christian practice in the West – in one form or another – for more than a thousand years. So long, in fact, that many of us tend to forget why we do this; “we’ve always done it that way”; “we have to gather, that’s when we worship”; “Jesus said to do it that way;” and other such nonsense.

The gathering tends to take the brunt of the critique because, in many minds, the gathering IS church. A whole generation of pastors preached this; we still often call the buildings in which we gather “churches,” as if they can be that apart from the group of people who gather there. I still find myself slipping into that talk when I talk about it with my kids; we have no other word for it!

Now, most of us can agree that worship is first and foremost a way of life; to live oriented towards God is to worship. The two can be equated, I think. Mark Labberton makes a case for this in his book, “Dangerous Worship”, to which I hope he makes reference at Midwinter this year (and everyone going gave a shoutout). In Romans, Paul makes a good case for this too: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God; this is true worship.” There are good reasons to gather together weekly. Scripture DOES say we shouldn’t forsake gathering together. Jesus spent large amounts of time teaching his disciples apart from the crowds.

But Jesus also said, “go.”

Jesus also said “make disciples of ALL nations.”

Jesus said we were to go to the very ends of the earth.

And how we emphasize this in our gatherings is important. It’s not an either/or, but a both/and: we gather, and we are sent, gather, and send. We worship pastors are discipleship pastors too, but for us, it means discipling a whole congregation all at once through our art, through music, and through the liturgy we write. How we choose to lead can emphasize this rhythm of gather and send. A benediction, literally a “good word,” is a time for us to remind ourselves of our sent-ness. The good word is that we do not cease to be this gathered people when the doors swing shut on our way to the parking lot, because being sent is a part of offering ourselves. It means that, when Monday comes, we’re still the Church.

When we’re cut off in traffic, we’re still the Church.

When our coworkers invite us to the suspicious wing joint next door, we’re still the Church.

When our kids do that one thing that always makes us angry, we’re still the Church.

When we know that it’s time to study – but Facebook sits there beckoning – we’re still the Church.

And how we respond is worship too.



WARNING: Contents Under Pressure

1 Comment » Written on January 18th, 2013     
Filed under: Better Together, Leadership, Local Church
Tags: , , , ,

 

Today’s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Music and Worship Pastor at Bethlehem Covenant Church, Minneapolis, MN.

We have barely made it through Christmas, but planning for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter is already underway. Meanwhile, there’s a plumbing leak (that no one can locate) pouring water into the child care center downstairs, the photocopier we bought less than a year ago is inoperable again, and there aren’t enough volunteers to fill all the volunteer assignments for this weekend. The flu outbreak has us rethinking the way we greet one another. No one can find the projector for the contemporary worship, and no one can remember if the person who was supposed to run it was ever actually asked to do so. A member of the congregation becomes ill after arriving at church, and the ambulance arrives minutes before worship is to begin, blocking the entrance to the building.

Just a typical Sunday at XYZ Covenant Church in Your Town, USA, right? One emergency after another interrupts our plans. The pressure becomes intense for pastors and congregational leaders who find themselves bouncing from one crisis to the next, barely catching a breath in between.

The pressure builds as we are faced not only with problems we could avoid if we planned better, but real catastrophes like death and sickness and job loss and power outages and other events beyond our control. We become so accustomed to operating in “crisis mode” that we forget this might not be what Jesus had in mind when he said, “Abide in me.”

Our English word “crisis” comes from the Greek word that means “judgment” or “decision.” A true crisis is a turning point, a moment of decision. The decisions we make may be life-or-death, or they may have less dire consequences. Some decisions must be made on the spur of the moment, while others can be pondered and made at leisure. How we react to these crises tells the world a great deal about our faith and our willingness to practice what we preach: that God loves us, that we belong to Him, and grace abounds.

Does your church have a plan for dealing with unavoidable emergencies when they arise? How do your leaders and pastors avoid the burnout that so often accompanies living in crisis mode? What can you do to support your church’s leaders through the stress that comes with a true crisis?



When tragedy strikes…

2 comments Written on December 14th, 2012     
Filed under: Culture, Current Events, Leadership, Liturgy, News

Today’s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at North Park University in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination’s Commission on Worship.

Someone posted on the Better Together Facebook group: “It’s Friday morning, December 14th, and  the world just changed. Do I alter my worship plans for Sunday morning, or carry on singing ‘Mary’s Boy Child,’ ‘Joy to the World,’ and ‘What Child is This’?”. It seems that someone got into a school in Connecticut this morning, and though the news is not yet clear we have heard that 27 people are dead including 18 children. The question posted to our Facebook community is a very good one.

Anything we say can sounds trite at a time like this. Emotions are raw, and the shock we experience, together with the current media style of repetitious, slowly evolving news cycles, means that we are fatigued by the terrible things we hear.

The Church exists, in part at least, to help in situations like this. The world is asking the “why” questions now, today, and perhaps we should be ready to answer them with God’s truth. That’s a lesson we can learn and grow from – to be ready with an explanation of the hope we hold dear. Even now, it’s worth trying to put our thoughts into prayer and take them to the Throne of Grace… Lord, why does this happen? How can we bring comfort to those bereaved and devastated? What, Lord, do you want us to bring to the society in which we live?

In our own hearts, we should be sure that the God who was worthy of praise and adoration yesterday is the same Lord today, still worthy, still expressing grace, mercy and comfort. We’re still God’s people, and the hands and feet of Christ on the earth.

If anyone can stand with those who mourn, it’s the followers of Christ. If there’s anyone who sees the big picture of God’s love for the world, of death and resurrection in Christ, of the sheer hopelessness of a world that lives in the shadow of sin and needs comfort – it’s us. We can stand among our friends and neighbors in the midst of suffering, and gently hold their hands as we grieve together.

Years ago now, our third child died as an infant, just before Christmas. The holidays were forever changed, of course, as we will always remember and be grateful for Andrew’s short life.

Just a few weeks later I was back leading worship at a large event – as a freelance musician I didn’t get paid unless I worked – and I felt like a hypocrite, so I went to the Leadership Counseling that was offered.

The counselors – a couple who had suffered much, and shone profoundly with the light of Christ – were very helpful. They prayed with me, and their kind and wise words brought much peace. Among the things I remember was a challenge; this is a time, they said, to mourn, but also to praise God for the hope you have in the resurrection.

It is not hypocrisy to praise God at a time like this, but it is a sensitive time to draw close to the God of all comfort and speak comfort to our neighbors on God’s behalf.



Reorient and Engage: More Like Worshippers, Less Like Critics

3 comments Written on November 30th, 2012     
Filed under: Arts, Church History, Church Year, Culture, Formation, Leadership, Music, Style of Worship, Visual Arts

Today’s post is written by Jeff Olson, Pastor of Worship Arts at Christ Church in East Greenwich, RI, where he has served for over six years.

In Advent a strong theme of waiting exists, but here is why you should almost never wait to engage in the arts in your church.

“Next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise. The gift of language combined with the gift of song was given to man that he should proclaim the Word of God through Music.” Martin Luther penned this bold assertion nearly half a millennium ago but I would argue these words of wisdom from this reformer should still be taken seriously today.

In Luther’s day, many were illiterate, and until the invention of the printing press, seeing, holding and touching a Bible was about as common as my Minnesota Vikings putting together a quality Super Bowl caliber team. In fact, a whole town would be fortunate if they owned and had access to one copy of the Word of God, let alone if most of them could even read it. Scripture was, therefore, almost exclusively read in the presence of others. If you could not take your Bible home and study it, how did brothers and sisters of the faith grow and remember particular stories and teachings from the Word of God?

This is where the Arts come in. Many of the great paintings of antiquity, plays and poems, and the great time-tested hymns of the faith were often used in the absence of a Bible (or iPad app) as a tool to teach about faith, tell the great stories of the Bible and to teach solid theology. Think about it: All of the best art was Church art. Michelangelo’s greatest gig was painting the inside of a church (the Sistine Chapel); Bach was one of the prominent worship leaders/pastors of his day. Great art and Church were almost synonymous for much of the last 2000 years of European history. Art often played a pivotal role in educating the Church about who God was and in the role of participation with one another in faith.

Fast forward a few centuries and we are in a different world in some respects. One of the greatest inventions to promote art in a variety of forms may also, if we are not careful, help to destroy it. For nearly all of human history it was a big deal to hear live music or see a painting, even if it was so-so in terms of quality. Why? Because we had no device to capture a recording and we had no digital camera to make Van Gogh’s Starry Night our latest screen saver. In some ways, this proliferation of art has meant that we now have exposure to so many great works of art, which is a wonderful thing. However, the sometimes sinister shadow of this blessing is that perhaps we have become so over saturated with the ability to see and hear whatever we want when we want, that we have become more like critics and less like worshippers.

What do I mean by this bold claim? Well, when we come across a song that is not exactly what we are in the mood for or a painting that is in a style we do not like, rather than just being thankful for the gift that the art is or seek to see what we can learn about God or hear from Him, we evaluate it and often determine if we will or will not engage based, not on its truth or how it can help us grow, but whether we “like it” or “not” according to our tastes.

Now let me say this directly: It’s OK to have preferences, but when our preferences become our gauge of whether or not to engage in worshipping God or joining with our brothers and sisters, that does present a problem. Think for a moment. If we knowingly applied this same hermeneutic to reading the Bible, we would likely not have much left to read!

So how do we go about moving more towards worshippers and less toward critics? Two words, reorient and engage.

What is the purpose of art? Asking this question reorients us in the right direction. Good art in our churches, like scripture, is not necessarily about being happy (though joy is a major factor in the Christian faith), but about helping us become holy. Good art is not necessarily always supposed to please or even entertain you but rather to move you closer to God and His mission. In fact, like the Word of God, art should at times be “hard to swallow” because it should not only encourage, uplift and educate, but also convict, shed light on dark areas of our lives and help to painstakingly and beautifully develop our faith walk just as it was used in Luther’s day.

But it will only help us grow if we choose to engage. I have mentioned in worship services that singing (or any art for that matter) is sacred work for both the artist and observer alike. Like any other action or discipline, we cannot grow without intentionally engaging and participating (work). Now engagement looks different for different people, but what engagement does not look like is treating any art as we treat our screen saver background or a song on the radio. Good art, if made with care and attention, is speaking about God and to God and prompting us to engage with God and others; and this is not something we should ever miss the opportunity to engage in. A bold question I often ask myself is if I am not in a period of mourning and I know the words of a song and they are true, does not engaging seem like a viable option? Engagement does not mean we ourselves have to be world-class painters or soloists, but rather we are engaged with one another in using this tool to grow and connect together with God and his mission.

Are we using art to engage in worship or as an item to be critiqued? Perhaps for all of us, regardless of the quality of the art, the better question is: How can I not sing and engage in praising God and reminding those around me who He is at any and every opportunity I can get?

Art can often make us happy, and that can be a beautiful thing, but good art can also be more than that – it can help in making us holy.

So this Advent, as we again revisit the texts of the promised Messiah and that holy idea of waiting, let us never wait or hold back in engaging in our worship of Him in any and every form, circumstance and style (including art) that is humanly possible.



Leftovers

3 comments Written on November 16th, 2012     
Filed under: Culture, Leadership, Liturgy, Local Church, Music, Order of Worship

Today’s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN.

During our weekly staff meeting, the senior pastor always asks, “What’s left over from last Sunday?”

He asks this question every week, so it really shouldn’t take me by surprise, but it almost always does. My attention is already so focused on what needs to happen before next Sunday that I struggle to remember what happened last Sunday. My wise senior pastor reminds me that we must always have a sense of the past in order to move into the future. Our roots support our branches. “What’s left over from last Sunday?” might be the most important question we discuss as a staff.

Remembering last Sunday is, in itself, an act of worship. We honor God by reflecting on the congregation’s response to a particular song, an idea from the sermon, or the way all the elements fit together in a whole that was greater than the sum of their parts. We also honor God when we take the time to examine what didn’t work in worship: the song that was in an impossible key, or the elements that distracted more than they glorified. Maybe it was an anonymous critical note left by a disgruntled worshipper, or a suspicion that we crossed the line between staying relevant and selling out to the culture around us. Maybe we were so busy minding the details, we failed to see God’s big picture, and we missed out on the transformative work of God in our own lives.

As we savor the leftovers, we identify four components of worship that move us through that transformation God promises his people. Adoration brings us into the presence of God with praise and thanksgiving. Praise and thanksgiving are inextricably linked throughout the psalms. Our adoration reminds us of the vast gulf between God’s goodness and our sinfulness, which brings us to Confession. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9), and so we move immediately to Forgiveness. As God’s forgiven people, we are then Commissioned to go out and share the Good News, making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them Christ’s commands (Matthew 28:19-20).

Adoration
Confession
Forgiveness
Commissioning

As you prepare for this week’s worship, what’s left over from last Sunday?
Taste the sweet and the bitter in the leftovers.
Savor the goodness of the Lord.
Let us prepare to worship God.



Gauging Response

10 comments Written on November 2nd, 2012     
Filed under: Leadership, Theology

Today’s post is written by Matt Nightingale, Director of Worship Ministries at Redeemer Covenant Church in Tulsa, OK.

I’ve been a full-time worship pastor for over 12 years. My great desire, my clear call from the Lord, is to help people enter into worship. And over the years, one of the definitions of worship that has made the most sense to me is very simple: Worship is our response to God’s revelation. Of course that response can take many forms. Our day-to-day lives of individual worship (see Romans 12:1) are a response to God. And our worship services, where God’s people gather to worship together, are a response to God.

The Covenant Book of Worship reminds us that not only do we respond to who God is, we respond to what God has done. Jewish worship – liturgy, songs and holy days – focused on the Exodus. God had done something spectacular – delivering His people from bondage in Egypt – and the community of faith responded in worship by remembering and celebrating with their lives. In much the same way, Christian worship over the last 2000 years – liturgy, songs and holy days – has focused on an event: the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus. God has done something spectacular – delivering His people from the bondage of sin and death – and the community of faith responds in worship by remembering and celebrating with our lives.

Every Monday morning, I get together with our senior pastor and associate pastor. We check in with each other and pray together, and inevitably we get around to discussing the worship services. Every week we ask ourselves about Redeemer’s response. Was our worship planning effective? Did our congregation respond to God? How do we know?

We’ve all seen the Hillsong videos (or the Passion videos, or the Jesus Culture videos, or… insert whatever vibrant, youthful praise and worship movement you want)… You know, the arenas full of people, hands raised, eyes closed, singing at the top of their lungs. Those people are really worshipping, right?

And then there’s Redeemer on a Sunday morning. We’re a conservative bunch, on the whole. Some people just stand there. Others sing quietly. Some brave souls lift their hands and close their eyes. Sometimes there are moments of robust, unified singing, and other times I can’t really tell how many people are singing along. But you know… it’s not Hillsong all the time. That’s just not our thing. And that’s just fine. We all know that true worship can’t be measured by outward expression. After all, scripture teaches us that “people look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7, NIV).”

The most expressive person can be the most hypocritical. The quietest person can be the most fully engaged. There’s no way to tell from simply observing.

I remember once introducing a new song at a former church. The band sounded great, the lighting was just right, people were really “with me.”  I saw someone watching me, and I thought to myself, “Man, I sound good… I’ll bet that person thinks I have a really great voice.” And then I got to the chorus:

You are the God of the broken, the friend of the weak
You wash the feet of the weary, embrace the ones in need
I want to be like you, Jesus, to have this heart in me
You are the God of the broken. You are the humble king.*

BAM! In one chorus I was revealed as a fraud, utterly barren in my seemingly genuine worship. On the outside, I was looking the part, but on the inside I was a prideful pretender.

On the other hand, I know a man here at Redeemer who looks like a statue during worship in music. He just… stands there. Hands in pockets. Doesn’t even sing. But he continually lets me know that he appreciates our times of worship and that the songs are meaningful to him. And even more important than his affirming words, his life reflects maturity in Christ and produces good fruit.

So how can we tell? How do we evaluate whether our congregations are entering into genuine worship? How can we gauge the response of our people – as individuals and collectively? Please share your thoughts and experiences.

*Lyric from the song “Humble King” words and music by Brenton Brown, © 1999 Vineyard Songs (UK/Eire) (Admin. by Vineyard Music UK)

 

 



Ouch.

5 comments Written on October 19th, 2012     
Filed under: Core Values, Culture, Leadership, Local Church

Today’s post is written by Jo Anne Taylor, Director of Music and Worship at Bethlehem Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN.

Last week, Geoff wrote:

“… when I look at the advertising for worship leader positions in the nation’s churches I am distressed to see how many are asking for a video clip along with a CV or resume. …  Really, why do they want to see me or any other candidate leading a song before they consider whether I might lead their congregation in worship?”

Ouch. Guilty, as charged. Well, sort of.

Our church is currently interviewing candidates for a worship leader position. And yes, we did ask applicants to provide a sound or video clip of themselves leading worship along with their résumés.

But our intent was not to see if the candidate looked/sounded good on stage. Our goal was to discern a heart for worship in the candidate’s approach to leading others in a live setting, as well as to determine if the candidate had the competence to do two things at once: lead music, and lead worship.

We were trying to be pragmatic in assessing whom we wanted to interview, but we were also concerned with identifying the intangible and unquantifiable aspects of worship leading that simply cannot be measured in a rubric. After all, don’t pastors seeking a call usually submit a sample sermon to congregations expecting them to preach every week?

As we viewed and listened to applicants, however, I wonder if Geoff’s charge of “the perpetual narrowing of our cultural conscience” did, in fact, play a part in our search process. The line between secular and sacred gets blurred in music more than any other element of worship, I think, especially in contemporary worship that focuses on engaging the seeker. Is this a bad thing? That’s a subject for another day. I guess my question is this: If you want to lead worship in my church, what would a video or sound clip show me that you would want to hide?



What are we looking for?

Post a Comment » Written on October 13th, 2012     
Filed under: Core Values, Culture, Leadership, Local Church

Today’s post is written by Geoff Twigg, Adjunct Professor at North Park University in Chicago. Geoff is a pastor, singer/songwriter, worship leader and ministry consultant, and serves the ECC as a member of the denomination’s Commission on Worship.

As I write, we’ve just witnessed the second debate (this time, between the two vice-presidential candidates) and there’s about a month to go before the election. Some of my Facebook friends are already posting comments about the nature of the discussion and begging for no more political commentary. Personally, I am not able to vote in the US, and I always keep any opinions I may have completely private.

However, it has struck me continually – having been in the US since 1994 and witnessed several elections – that the nature of the discussion is always rather shallow and spin-oriented. You might know that in the early days of American Federal politics, candidates would travel to small towns and cities, engaging in conversation and debate with local businessmen and farmers for hours at a time, and a full and frank exchange of views was witnessed by anyone in the marketplace.

I don’t think the exchange we saw this week or last was full or frank; I think it was a very well-orchestrated show of soundbites and rehearsed one-liners, where each candidate was tested on the skills of televisual appearance and suave presentation, snappy answers and subtle quips. Those are, apparently, the abilities the press, politicians and pundits want to see proven in order to gain popularity for their candidate. It seems those are the skills we need to see in our most senior ruler and the cohort that surrounds the Oval Office. I find that worrying.

So why am I mentioning this on a blog about worship and worship leading? (Come now, beloved reader, you must be used to my comments seeming to be irrelevant!) I’m writing about this stuff because when I look at the advertising for worship leader positions in the nation’s churches I am distressed to see how many are asking for a video clip along with a CV or resume. Even the ads which say ‘no theological education necessary’ or ‘musical literacy not required’ will ask for a headshot or (more frequently) video evidence that the person applying for the lead worshipper position “looks the part” (as we used to say).

Why?

Really, why do they want to see me or any other candidate leading a song before they consider whether I might lead their congregation in worship? I realize that, while “Man looks upon the outward appearance… God looks upon the heart”  (1 Samuel 16.7) and therefore what we look like to humans may matter in some ways. Nevertheless, I fear that this need for visual evidence of my acumen may be more associated with the perpetual narrowing of our cultural conscience. I’m worried that we take fewer things seriously and consider even each of those topics in less depth as time goes on.

Come on, people, reassure me. Tell me it’s not so, and that we have (perhaps just beneath the surface) a rich, considered and morally sound dimension that will undergird the church as we march on through these troubled days.

Or join me in prayer that we will find a way, in church and in our public debates, to ask the right, tough questions of one another and listen carefully to thoughtful answers.



Name

1 Comment » Written on September 8th, 2012     
Filed under: Leadership

Today’s post is written by Chris Logan, Worship Pastor at Community Covenant Church in Lenexa, KS.

What’s in a name?

In six months, there will be a third kid in my midst. I’m not gonna lie, we have been struggling a lot with naming this one. But this is nothing new – we named each of our children carefully, intentionally. Maybe it’s because we can sometimes be a little old-fashioned, but each of our children have names that mean something important for that particular moment in our journey, as well as our hopes and dreams for them.

My daughter, Aurora Eve: the dawn of new life. It’s an obvious connection for a first child, but we pray that she some day becomes one who brings new life into the lives of everyone around her.

My son, Caedmon Jace: the warrior healer. We loved the paradox of these two names together, and pray that he becomes one who is passionate about bringing healing into this world, a man driven by God’s vision of recreation.

What’s in a name?

A name is identity.

As you consider how you’ll name the various ministries under your guidance, remember that the name you give them sets tone and expectations, but most importantly, it casts vision.

Do so with care.



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