{"id":2773,"date":"2013-08-24T16:55:11","date_gmt":"2013-08-24T21:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=2773"},"modified":"2013-08-24T16:55:11","modified_gmt":"2013-08-24T21:55:11","slug":"in-the-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s post is by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church<\/a>\u00a0in Lenexa, KS.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"NOLA-JAZZ-SAX\"<\/a>When I was in sixth grade, I desperately wanted to join the jazz band. I loved the sound of jazz and wanted, more than anything, to learn how to play. But I ran into a snag when, despite her willingness to write multiple flute parts, the director refused to write a part for french horn. Horn just isn’t a jazz instrument, she said, you should stick to classical music.<\/p>\n

\u2028While I wish this was an inspirational tale about how I proved her wrong (despite the fact that I’m very aware of a few jazz horn players), this is not that story. Basically, I said “fine” and stubbornly learned to play saxophone. But I’m really glad that I did. Sax, to me, is a very free instrument, especially for jazz. It has a sultry tone to it, a dark amber that glides over notes the way water cascades over rocks. It’s an instrument built for improvisational jazz.<\/p>\n

The thing about improvisation is that, in my experience, it’s totally misunderstood. Contrary to popular belief, jazz improv has very little to do with making things up on the spot, and in point of fact, requires enormous preparation. One must learn the chord changes, hear the backbeat, feel the groove, and above all, know the instrument so well that mind and fingers and air and instrument become one. Born talent and learned skill must go hand in hand with intuition and preparation. To improvise music first requires that we do the due dilligence of learning and understanding the rules, so that then we can break them intelligently, on purpose, with intent. And if we prepare well, when it comes time to play in the moment, it is effortless and feels free like nothing else.<\/p>\n

It’s kind of like leading worship.<\/p>\n

\"TS_double\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Standing on stage in front of a congregation for preaching or leading music or even announcements requires an enormous amount of prep work, but it often appears as though we’re talking or singing (or whatever) off the tops of our heads. But unless we’ve gone through the rigor of understanding the WHY of the set – the story of the gathering, the theology of the music and scripture, the experience and training of speaking and playing, and above all, developing our ears to hear the voice of God as He speaks to us through the week – unless we’ve done our best to prepare, then when it comes time to be present, in the moment, on sunday morning (or whenever), we’re not leading with integrity. Intention requires preparation.<\/p>\n

To put it another way, when we don’t do our part to follow the Spirit in advance, we don’t give the Spirit much to work with in the moment. We need to let God prepare us, because when God DOES move spontaneously in a new direction, we’ll be so used to hearing His voice that to change our plans will glide like dark amber, like water cascading down rocks.<\/p>\n

Like jazz.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s post is by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. When I was in sixth grade, I desperately wanted to join the jazz band. I loved the sound of jazz and wanted, more than anything, to learn how to play. But I ran into a snag when, despite her willingness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8,19827],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-formation","category-leadership","category-vocational-excellence"],"yoast_head":"\nIn the Moment - 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=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In the Moment - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s post is by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. When I was in sixth grade, I desperately wanted to join the jazz band. I loved the sound of jazz and wanted, more than anything, to learn how to play. But I ran into a snag when, despite her willingness […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-24T21:55:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2013\/08\/NOLA-JAZZ-SAX.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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d\"},\"headline\":\"In the Moment\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-24T21:55:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":529,\"commentCount\":3,\"articleSection\":[\"Formation\",\"Leadership\",\"Vocational Excellence\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/\",\"name\":\"In the Moment - Worship Connect\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-24T21:55:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/in-the-moment\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"In the Moment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/\",\"name\":\"Worship Connect\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d\",\"name\":\"Chris\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris\"},\"description\":\"Chris is an ECC Worship Artist currently serving at First Covenant Church of Omaha, NE. 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":"In the Moment - 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":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In the Moment - Worship Connect","og_description":"Today\u2019s post is by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. When I was in sixth grade, I desperately wanted to join the jazz band. I loved the sound of jazz and wanted, more than anything, to learn how to play. But I ran into a snag when, despite her willingness […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/","og_site_name":"Worship Connect","article_published_time":"2013-08-24T21:55:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2013\/08\/NOLA-JAZZ-SAX.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Chris","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d"},"headline":"In the Moment","datePublished":"2013-08-24T21:55:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/"},"wordCount":529,"commentCount":3,"articleSection":["Formation","Leadership","Vocational Excellence"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/","name":"In the Moment - Worship Connect","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-08-24T21:55:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/08\/in-the-moment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In the Moment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/","name":"Worship Connect","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d","name":"Chris","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris"},"description":"Chris is an ECC Worship Artist currently serving at First Covenant Church of Omaha, NE. 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\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2773"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2781,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2773\/revisions\/2781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}