{"id":1941,"date":"2012-04-27T09:34:54","date_gmt":"2012-04-27T14:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=1941"},"modified":"2012-05-09T14:35:48","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T19:35:48","slug":"essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/04\/essential\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/image.made-in-china.com\/2f0j00ieSTtrqlHnkz\/Plastic-Bucket-QF004-.jpg\" alt=\"[Bucket]\" width=\"194\" height=\"194\" \/><em>Today\u2019s post was written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cccks.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Community Covenant Church<\/a>\u00a0in Lenexa, KS.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><em><\/em>So in the last few weeks I\u2019ve had two weekends where I was sick on Sunday. Now, the first weekend was, in fact, Easter. I woke up Easter morning feeling absolutely AWFUL; dizzy, nauseous, cramped stomach, and a few other things I won\u2019t mention. But it was Easter &#8211; EASTER &#8211; the one sunday (aside from perhaps Christmas) when a pastor of worship absolutely HAS to be at work, no compromises, a you\u2019d-better-be-dead-or-at-least-severely-wounded-and-maybe-bleeding-out-to-not-show-up sort of situation (at least, that\u2019s how it works in my head). And it was a really rough Sunday for me; with only a banana for breakfast (nothing else would stay down), I managed (by the grace of God) to lead all three gatherings and even convince most people there that nothing was wrong (except for my worship team, who kept a pretty close eye on me through our second and third gatherings; there\u2019s no fooling them). I went home and slept, and two days later felt well enough to play with my kids again.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Then two weeks later it happened again. I woke up with stomach cramps, dizziness, and vertigo. This time though, I wasn\u2019t sure there was anything that could convince me to get up and face the symptoms. At 6am I tried to get up: FAIL. At 7am my wife rolled over and (trying to not sound panicky, I\u2019m pretty sure) asked if I was going to actually go to work today, since it was, you know, Sunday. I couldn\u2019t answer straight. About half an hour later, she finally grabbed my phone and said \u201cok Chris, time to start making some phone calls.\u201d She called our senior pastor and several other key leaders who would have to figure out how to improvise the morning without me (to their credit, nobody panicked for that long after she told them).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Now, I watched the recordings of both gatherings &#8211; Easter and this other week &#8211; and to be honest, it\u2019s tough to really see that much of a difference between them. In one, I\u2019m on stage and looking pretty pale, but otherwise the gathering flowed very nicely, the music went well, people were able to worship. In the other, I\u2019m not on stage, but again, the gathering flowed well, the music happened with excellence, and people were able to worship.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">And I have to be honest: the narcissist in me really doesn\u2019t like this.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">There should\u2019ve been a difference, right? People should be able to tell when I\u2019m not there by things falling apart. I shouldn\u2019t be able to get sick because then Sunday couldn\u2019t happen, right? Because Pastors should be superhuman, imbued with the healing power of God to fight off virus and bacteria and broken bones alike, so that Sunday can happen \u2026 right? I should not be replaceable! I should be the one people depend on \u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">\u2026 right?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Except, what if God wants me to depend on Him?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">I have to weekly remind myself that this isn\u2019t about me, that my position as a leader is more about allowing God to use me as a conduit for His work than it is about doing the work myself. And because God can do that with whomever he chooses, it seems as though I don\u2019t get to be superhuman. I\u2019ll still get sick, I\u2019ll still get hurt, and there will be Sundays (or rehearsals or key meetings or whatever) that I\u2019ll miss because my body isn\u2019t up to the task.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">It turns out, I\u2019m not an essential.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">And it\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/friedbergproperties.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/01\/thumbnail-house-puzzle.jpg\" alt=\"[Pieces of the Puzzle]\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" \/>Now, I want to be careful not to overwrite this train of thought, because as leaders, we\u2019re prone to two different directions, either that we feel we\u2019re totally essential, OR we beat ourselves up for our weaknesses and get it in our head that there\u2019s surely somebody else better. Usually it&#8217;s the first, but there are plenty of people I know who flipflop between the two (myself included). The chances are that yes, there is somebody else who could do it better; I imagine that David Crowder could probably kick my butt on stage with only one hand on his guitar. But people like that are not here;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">you are.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">God put you in this place, for this time, and it\u2019s out of His strength that you are to lead. Always out of His strength.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">The best leaders know they\u2019re not perfect, and so they invite people to join a team around them to form a support network, to make up for each others\u2019 weaknesses, even to pick up the pieces if need be. The best leaders know that while they\u2019re necessary, they\u2019re not essential, and are even comforted by this fact. The best leaders know that they&#8217;re better together.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">So lead in the full confidence that God has placed in you, but always with the humility that is required of being enabled out of God\u2019s grace rather than your own strength.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Three questions for you today:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">1. How does God remind you to focus on Him and not on your own strength?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">2. Are you part of a team, or are you the one people depend on (recognizing that a team might not be all paid staff)?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">3. What people have you brought around you, knowing that you might have to depend on others in a time of weakness or illness? Are there volunteers or other staff who can take your yoke when you\u2019re unable to lift it? Are there systems in place to account for the eventuality of a time you\u2019re not able to lead?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=1941&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today\u2019s post was written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. So in the last few weeks I\u2019ve had two weekends where I was sick on Sunday. Now, the first weekend was, in fact, Easter. I woke up Easter morning feeling absolutely AWFUL; dizzy, nauseous, cramped stomach, and a few [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14503,10,8,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-better-together","category-formation","category-leadership","category-vocation-and-call"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Essential - Worship Connect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/04\/essential\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Essential - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s post was written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. So in the last few weeks I\u2019ve had two weekends where I was sick on Sunday. Now, the first weekend was, in fact, Easter. I woke up Easter morning feeling absolutely AWFUL; dizzy, nauseous, cramped stomach, and a few [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/04\/essential\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-27T14:34:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-05-09T19:35:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/image.made-in-china.com\/2f0j00ieSTtrqlHnkz\/Plastic-Bucket-QF004-.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/essential\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/essential\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d\"},\"headline\":\"Essential\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-27T14:34:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-09T19:35:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/essential\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":974,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/essential\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/image.made-in-china.com\\\/2f0j00ieSTtrqlHnkz\\\/Plastic-Bucket-QF004-.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Better Together\",\"Formation\",\"Leadership\",\"Vocation and Call\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/essential\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/essential\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2012\\\/04\\\/essential\\\/\",\"name\":\"Essential - 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Though he was born and raised in Rochester NY, Chris is a third-culture child, a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland. In addition to voice and guitar, he is also plays French Horn and Saxophone. His wife Liz is also a musician, and they have been married since 2004. They have three kids, a daughter named Aurora (Rori), a son named Caedmon (CJ), and a daughter named Brielle (Bria). He graduated with a self-designed B.A. in Music in Christianity from the University of Rochester, studying and writing on the interactions between music and the Christian faith in the postmodern paradigm. He received his M.A. from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2008 in Intercultural Studies, an Anthropology and Sociology degree that specializes in Christian Missions. He\u2019s been a missionary in Australia, India, Mexico, and Haiti, and has served as a worship pastor previously in Mitchell SD and Lenexa KS. His passion is to see worship become a missional endeavor, that the Church understand their faith in the broader context of the imitation of God and participation in the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than as an event on Sunday mornings. He hopes one day to do a PhD in Anthropology, studying how our worship practices ought to be understood in relationship to the changing cultural landscape of the Western world. Chris is also a photographer, and enjoys days out with his family and camera. He loves to read, to scuba dive, and to kayak. It\u2019s hard for him to say no to a Hawaiian pizza, and has been known to frequent coffee shops for a caramel latte or an iced Chai.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/randomthoughtsbychris.blogspot.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/author\\\/chrisl\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Essential - Worship Connect","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2012\/04\/essential\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Essential - Worship Connect","og_description":"Today\u2019s post was written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. So in the last few weeks I\u2019ve had two weekends where I was sick on Sunday. Now, the first weekend was, in fact, Easter. 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Though he was born and raised in Rochester NY, Chris is a third-culture child, a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland. In addition to voice and guitar, he is also plays French Horn and Saxophone. His wife Liz is also a musician, and they have been married since 2004. They have three kids, a daughter named Aurora (Rori), a son named Caedmon (CJ), and a daughter named Brielle (Bria). He graduated with a self-designed B.A. in Music in Christianity from the University of Rochester, studying and writing on the interactions between music and the Christian faith in the postmodern paradigm. He received his M.A. from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2008 in Intercultural Studies, an Anthropology and Sociology degree that specializes in Christian Missions. He\u2019s been a missionary in Australia, India, Mexico, and Haiti, and has served as a worship pastor previously in Mitchell SD and Lenexa KS. His passion is to see worship become a missional endeavor, that the Church understand their faith in the broader context of the imitation of God and participation in the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than as an event on Sunday mornings. He hopes one day to do a PhD in Anthropology, studying how our worship practices ought to be understood in relationship to the changing cultural landscape of the Western world. Chris is also a photographer, and enjoys days out with his family and camera. He loves to read, to scuba dive, and to kayak. 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