Beyond Sunday Worship

Worship Podcast

Where am I and what am I doing?

I started reading the book of Revelation today and I was struck by this statement of John, the author:

“I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:9).

I feel immense challenge in that statement. John was stranded on an island because he spoke the word of God and bore witness to Jesus Christ.

I can’t help but ask, “Where am I and what am I doing on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus?”

Has there been a significant change in the course of my life because of Jesus Christ? Am I facing opposition from the world because of my stance as a follower of Jesus Christ? Am I living everyday on account of His Word and the testimony of His death and resurrection?

Or am I simply maintaining a form of religion without a life of stepping out for Christ?

How about you?


The Album Leaf – "Until the Last"

One of my favorite artists to listen to is The Album Leaf. Particularly the instrumental tracks. I love the electronics. I love the strings. I love the rhodes. I love the emotion. This is one of my favorite tracks off the new record.

Enjoy.

DS

A Worship Leader's Playlist

On this blog I talk a lot about the heart of a worship leader. The bottom line is we need to worship if we want to be a worship leader. Worship leading doesn’t begin with musical talent, great vocals, music knowledge, or leading a team. It starts with worship. What is your story? How are you pressing into God on a daily basis? That’s where we must begin.

However, worship leading involves music. It involves writing music, listening to music, arranging music, leading music. To focus solely on the heart at the expense of the practical is irresponsible and wrong. The music needs to serve the heart but the music cannot be ignored.

In this post I would like to ask you, what are you listening to? What inspires you? Here is my opinion as to what a worship leader should listen to. This is not found in the Bible. This is a personal suggestion and a look into what is on my playlist:

  • Worship Music – a worship leader should listen to a wide variety of worship music. We need to be constantly inspired by what is happening globally in the church. This should be a mixture of studio and live albums. I recommend studio for hearing the songs and live for learning from the experience.
  • Creative Music – too often we listen to the same music over and over and it is reflected in our boring sounds. Listen to music that is a bit different than what you’re used to. Experiment with using a different instrument in your services. Be inspired by some artists who are different. What I’m liking right now: Sigur Ros, Fanfarlo, The Album Leaf, Phoenix. Helps to inspire.
  • Hymns – There are a lot of great modern hymn records out. Modern in the musical sense. Ancient in the lyrical sense, which is what makes it awesome. We stand on the shoulders of incredible men and women of God who have lead worship through the centuries. We would be wise to listen. Suggestions: Passion Hymns: Ancient & Modern, Keith Getty, Stuart Townend.

Anything else you would suggest?

Worship Team Refresh Night

In this post I would like to share with you something we have done for the last few years as a worship team. We call it “Refresh Night”. All good things in life have the tendency to drift from special to mundane over the course of time. Think about it. If you don’t continually invest in your marriage and keep it fresh by ‘pursuing’ your spouse, it drifts into simply a ‘tolerating’ of one another. If you don’t keep in touch with friends, the relationship dies. If you are a musician and you choose to stop learning, the boredom leads to stagnation.

This is true of local church worship ministry as well. The awe-inspiring truth that we have access to approach the Holy God of all creation as a corporate body every week is truly a miraculous event. Yet often it becomes: “What musical arrangements will intrigue me this week?” or “Are we doing my favorite song?” or “Crap, I messed up that chord progression!”

With our annual ‘Refresh’ Night we have tried to breathe some vision into the beginning of our year as a worship team. We want to approach our weekend services prepared to meet with God and connect with a people on a journey with Christ. We want to be God-centered, Christ-enabled, Spirit-led, Missionary-minded, Glory-expectant, Acts-balanced, and Willfully-expressed. “Refresh” Night helps us do this. We take a normal Thursday night rehearsal, meet in a home, and spend some time in worship, prayer, vision, and fellowship. The Holy Spirit always does something very special.

What do you do to focus as a worship team?

The Humble Leader

I recently finished reading the book, “The Living Church” by John Stott. Quite a powerful read. John has been a pastor for more years than I can count. He is deeply in touch with the past as well as what is currently happening in the church. So much wisdom here. At the end of his book he quotes from Michael Ramsey on the topic of humility. Don’t miss this:

  • Thank God, often and always…Thank God, carefully and wonderingly, for your continuing privileges… Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.
  • Take care about confession of your sins… Be sure to criticize yourself in God’s presence: that is your self-examination. And put yourself under the divine criticism: that is your confession…
  • Be ready to accept humiliations. They can hurt terribly, but they help you to be humble. There can be the trivial humiliations. Accept them. There can be the bigger humiliations… all these can be so many chances to be a little nearer to our humble and crucified Lord.
  • Do not worry about status… there is only one status that our Lord bids us be concerned with, and that is the status of proximity to himself…
  • Use your sense of humor. Laugh about things, laugh at the absurdities of life, laugh about yourself, and about your own absurdity. We are all of us infinitesimally small and ludicrous creatures within God’s universe. You have to be serious, but never solemn, because if you are solemn about anything there is the risk of becoming solemn about yourself.