A friend of mine tweeted something the other day that caught my attention.

“Anyone else concerned that congregations in Modern Worship have become observers instead of participants/singers? People just stand & stare”

Then another friend who is a worship leader echoed with a Re-tweet and a “yes!”.

I don’t have any issues with the question or the answer that these two men gave.  I know them both and what they really want is to see people having intimate moments with God. But it did make me consider a few things about worship and how we perceive people’s actions during worship.

1. A healthy evangelically driven church will have quite a bit of “standing and staring”.
Demonstrative worship is the result of a life that is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Although a talented worship leader could probably convince people to do the “away, away, away, away, away’s” in Hillsong’s “Go” that would sound like a european soccer match right before the riot I am not sure that is a sign of health.  In fact a church that is full of fully engaged worshippers either has a fake congregation or a evangelism problem.

A large group of people not singing is a sign of a healthy church with large number of people who are far from God that have been drawn towards him, but are not in love with him yet.

2.  Sometimes we are asking people to make out with God and it freaks them out.

There were always a few people in high school who had no shame when it came to PDA. They would make out in middle of class with a boyfriend of three-minutes.  Those people are now worship leaders. (JUST JOKING) Actually those people are now mature adults who have learned to control themselves but will probably be drawn to a public demonstrative worship (PDW) a little sooner than your average accountant or Marine.

Most people are uncomfortable with PDA, even sloppy wet kisses of God.  Worship leaders who push people to get get comfortable with their PDW too quickly need to examine their motivations.

Is it because having people give you energy back makes you feel better about your worship set?

Is it because having that energy come back at you makes you feel like a rock-star?

Or is it because you truly want to see people have moments with God?

I think for most worship leaders it’s the latter with a unhealthy dose of the former (just like this pastor who likes a few amens when he preaches to puff my ego).

This is a GREAT article on this subject and the how and why of demonstrative worship.

3. Worship leaders need to become worshiper Pastors.

I know this is easy semantics but I hope it can be more.  Worship leaders lead people in worship music. Often times the worship can even become of the music because a good musical experience becomes the idol.  The measurement will easily be how much did people sing, did they clap their hands, was there a real energy in the room.  All good stuff.  Good enough I guess, but seems a little ant-climatic.  We all know people who worship well and live poorly.

Worshiper Pastors shepherd the heart of a people to take their next steps towards God by using music, media and sometimes words and silence to  promote a life given fully to Jesus.
There is a difference.  Not a huge difference that we can see, but a huge difference.

I believe in demonstrative worship.  It is one of our core values at Freedom Church.   I think God made emotions and we are to offer them to him in worship.  I just think sometimes I can be guilty of using it as a poor measuring stick.

“Missional people see their whole life as a mission trip”
Reggie McNeal.

Sometimes we segregate our lives in such ways that I think we miss the big picture.

We take mission trips.

We have evangelistic events.

We run community group for 9 weeks because the curriculum lasts that long.

We build fences around our family time to protect it from church.

Seems backwards to me.

What if our lives were a mission trip?

• What if the people we interact with at work were as special to us as the poor and starving in 3rd world countries?
• What if a trip to the grocery store was an evangelistic event?
• What if we met with people at our homes and in their homes because they WERE our community.  What we studied and how long it lasted would be secondary.
• What if our ministry and mission was so intertwined with our family that you could barely tell the difference?

I love foreign mission trips, Big Ol’ Egg Drops, Beth Moore studies and Saturday morning pancake time with my kids.  They are good things as long as we don’t let them be the only things.

We are on a life-long mission trip – let’s go get em’ Freedom Church!

Free People bring people to be Freed – Bring somebody this week to church!

I have a theory.  It’s not a proven theory but it is one that I really believe in.

I think that crowd dynamics have  a lot to do with how people feel when they are in a crowd.

You have to have enough people in a room to feel cozy but not so many people that you feel suffocated.

Not theology.  Just an opinion.

I also have another opinion.  I hate to preach to empty rows of chairs.

Certainly not theology.  Just an opinion.

So we try to set up just enough chairs but not too many so that the room will feel good and I will get my way and not have to preach to empty rows.  It’s the small things, I know.  We also tape off, with red tape (Freedom Church colors) the back few rows and encourage people to sit in the front.  Seemed like a good idea to me.  It just never works.

People move the tape.  People play limbo with the tape.  People step over the tape.  People do all kinds of things with the tape, but the only thing that they don’t do is sit on the front rows.  I was frustrated by the tape.

So I buckled down and told my staff.  Enforce the tape, gently, but enforce the tape.  I know it even types stupid, but it was a moment.

Then finally after a few people said, “We should get rid of the tape”, “we hate the tape” or “We have tape?” I asked my wife.

Here is ger exact quote,

“Oh, I hate the tape I think it sends the wrong message.  I just figured you were Mr. Church Planter so you probably knew better”.

I am getting rid of the red tape and how fitting a reminder it is to make sure we don’t put any red tape in the way of people connecting to God.

I am practicing this week by preaching to empty rows since that is how the front row will look at Freedom Church this week.

Oh and I am also making a list of things I need to ask my wife about!

If you are thinking of planting a church there is a really important concept you need to ask yourself before you start building a core team.  Are you willing to give away the church?

It seems like a weird question given that intelectually we would all quickly say, “the church belongs to God” and I agree, but lets just be honest the church plant is also a dream coming to life of the planter.  To act as if there are no strings attatched to you as a planter, no possesiveness, no deep seeded emotions would be silly.  You will feel in many ways like the church is your baby so the big questions is, are you willing to give it away?

Every daughter will eventually be walked down an aisle and given away.
Every small business will eventually hire others and delegate tasks.
Every husband will eventually hold his wife’s hand as she leaves to be with Jesus.

The question of if we give away is not the real question, the question is when and in a church plant it is early on if you want to grow.

Does your church fund just your dreams or the dreams of others too?

Does your church only play music you like or have you given that away?

Do you do all of the ministry?

Until you are ready to give it away, it will only be as big as something you can hold.

I have been praying a very bold prayer for our church concerning a permanent home recently.

I have been asking God to provide generously, show us the right timing and make it just the right place.

As we were driving past one piece of land that is in my “sights” I asked my 6-year old daughter to pray with me and to pray every time we drive past that land and ask God to give us favor. (we talked about what favor was too and why we would need land etc.)

Her response was amazing.
She said, “Dad, I’ll pray…but God is bigger than some piece of land Dad”.

I asked her what she meant and she clarified for her sometimes slow dad.

“Dad, God already gave us a great school to meet in as a church when we need the land he’ll give us that too, he is bigger than land”.

Seriously convicted of my lack of faith I told her how cool she was and that maybe she could pray for me too.

There is the picture of the Good Shepherd in Luke chapter 15 that is contrary to most people’s view of God.

And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
(Luke 15:5-6 ESV)

When Jesus find you in your sin, He rejoices to bring you home.
When Jesus carries you home in your filth and starts to clean you, He rejoices to bring you home.

He is not waiting to scold you.
He is not waiting to embarrass you.
He is not waiting to punish you.

He is waiting to throw you a party.
Why don’t you come home.

Here is the line-up for this week:

Monday January 9, 2012 – “Joyfully in His Arms”
In Luke 15 Jesus tells a story of a lost sheep who the good shepherd joyfully throws over his arms.

Tuesday January 10, 2012 – “God is better than some piece of land”
This was a quote from my six year old as we prayed for a piece of land for Freedom Church and it was a sobering moment for her dad.  God is bigger than your stuff too.

Wednesday January 11, 2012 – Are you ready to give away “your” church
Thinking about planting a church? Before you plant this is a question you have to answer.

Thursday January 12, 2012 – “Red tape, literally”
Are you willing to get past yourself and your pride to really hear what people are saying.  It takes me a few times, but eventually God breaks through my thick skull to push away the red tape.

Friday January 13, 2012 – Share your life: Share your calendar.
If you share your life with someone you should share your calendar.

Saturday January 14, 2012 – “Teach your children to Love Jesus”
Until I became a parent I had no idea how many parenting philosophies there were.  I also had no idea the passion involved. What if our main philosophy was to teach our children to love Jesus.  I wonder if that would change anything?

Its the moment when your six year old asks a question about God that shows genuine interest.

The moment when your sixteen year old asks, “how did you and Mom meet again?”.

The moment when your twelve year old comes home from school in tears and asks why no one likes them.

The moment when your little boy actually responds when you say, “how was your day”.

Many times these moments are disguised as passing and normal, but they are not.

They are usually that moment when you don’t have “time” to talk but your child wants to.

They are open windows into the heart and the soul of your child.

Don’t break in when they are not open.
Don’t be negligent and let others in when they are.One of the hardest things in parenting is getting into the heart of your child. Every now an then they leave an open window and when they do don’t miss the opportunity.

Believe it or not it is only 92 days until Easter and it is time to plan. I know that we just finished Christmas Eve and we have 12 Sundays in-between but its time to start planning. Why?

1. We plan because the stakes are too high to depend on our own strength and God uses our time of planning as a place to speak to us and unearth our best.
2. We plan because our volunteers deserve us to think through how we will use their talents and abilities.
3. We plan because some of our best ideas will take time to pull off.
4. We plan because there are people coming that need to hear about Jesus and we need to do our absolute best and be great.

So plan your first creative meeting this week and get the right people in the room and start planning.

In preaching what my friend Glenn Lucke calls “Connective Tissue” is the stuff that holds all the bones of theology together. It is the creative story that illustrates a great theological point. It is the joke told at just the right time in order to open someones heart and soul. It is the cultural hat tip that says, “This guy lives on the same planet that I do!”

But connective tissue is interesting. It grows very slowly and is very easily notcied when it is artificial. In other words a story found surfing the internet on Saturday night looks like a new cheap toupe.

In order to to really see connective tissue take hold of your preaching I have found that it is helpful to:

1. Plan your preaching schedule out as far as possible.
This will be different for everyone, but I guarentee you could, if you realy put your mind to it, plan your preaching scheudule at least 8 weeks ahead. I am currently planned out through the end of 2012 (with just a few gaps) on scripture, series and topics and have research and rough outlines for eleven weekends ahead. and I say about 2 weeks out on actual sermons written. This allows me to start the cultivating of connective tissue.

2. Read the scripture or book of the Bible that you are going to preach often.

Reading the scripture that you are going to preach often during the weeks ahead of preaching it allows the Holy Spirit to speak to you, allows new ideas to come into play and allows you to find life experiences that match the scripture. Scripture marinates well. If you don’t do step one you will never be able to do this though and you will find yourself finding scripture to match your life experiences which is very dangerous preaching.

3. Practice your sermons.
Here is what this looks like for me:
- I preach my sermon sitting down at my desk outloud when I finish the basic outline to see what flows. Its rough, but I am the only audience so its cool.
- I usually am about two weeks out on written full manuscripts. As I write them I practice outloud, especially the transitionary lines (which I bold in red). This allows me to see where there are gaps that need to be filled.
- The week of I preach my sermon standing up and time myslef. I try to do this on Tuesday so I can make appropriate changes early enough in the week.

If you follow these steps in your own style I bet you will start to see some more connective tissue growing around your bones!