Immersion Worship

Set 1
1. Oh Praise Him
2. Your Grace Is Enough
3. Salvation Is Here

Set 2
1. How Great Is Our God
2. Surrender

Thoughts
Our 4 month anniversary! It was a great service from start to finish. Scott kicked off the new ‘Bringing Giants Down’ series (complete with the most awesome intro video yet) and spoke about expectant faith. It led seamlessly in to such an incredible time of expectant worship and once again we went there as a church. Often as a worship leader I feel it when there is resistance or uncertainty in the congregation, yet the last couple of weeks have been completely void of that, and instead have been a forward progression of the church in to God’s presence. Vertical worship. Completely awesome.

We also held our first membership class after service, and it was so encouraging to see how many people wanted to commit to being a part of The Summit. I spoke briefly about servanthood and the opportunities that exist at The Summit to serve, and the response was really encouraging. It genuinely thrills me to see people who I didn’t know 4 months ago step up and say “we want in, we to be a part of this!”.

This morning I’ve been thinking a bit about what my call as a worship leader really means. Mostly, I’ve come to the complete realization that I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. Really, I don’t. I do what I think is right, but a lot of the time it feels like I’m wandering around in the dark hoping that at some point I’ll stumble across a door, or at least a light switch.

The thing about leading worship is that it’s so much more than just being a lead singer or directing the band. Sure, that’s what most people see, but it’s merely an end product. I struggle with the real tasks of worship leadership; communicating a vision, dealing with issues in the ministry, leading on a personal and spiritual level etc. As much as I know my mandate as a worship leader puts these things at the top of the ‘To Do’ list, they are an honest struggle for me and exist in areas that I feel completely incompetent in.

But I just read an article by Tim Hughes over at his blog, entitled ‘Taking The Lead’, and now I feel a whole lot better. It’s good to know that even the big guns have faced these same struggles.

And I learned something else as well; it’s better to feel unprepared and undertooled and incompetent than to feel completely confident, sure of yourself, like you have everything planned. Why? Because the latter leaves no room for God to come in and lead. I’d rather put my confidence in God than in myself.

Set 1
1. Rain Down
2. Your Love Is Amazing
3. You Are Holy

Set 2
1. Facedown
2. ‘Til I See You

Thoughts
Our facility was holding a Mother’s Day brunch this weekend, so we held our service on Saturday night instead. I was surprised at the number of people who were there; I was sure we’d have a smaller crowd than normal.

Rain Down worked really well, and I’m glad it did. I’ve been considering ditching it from our repertoire because it’s not the most connective and accessible of songs for a congregation, but it seemed to really set the atmosphere. The other two songs also kept the energy up and the congregation connected.

The second set was definitely the highlight, though. Mary spoke on lessons her kids have taught her (or rather, lessons learned from being a mother), and it was awesome to be reminded of some those things that Jesus typified and taught, especially the whole ‘faith like a child’ thing. The result was a unified and tangible response to God from all over the congregation during our second set. We freestyled a little after Facedown as the Spirit moved, and it was a pretty sweet moment. It always feels good to be in God’s presence, even if what He’s dealing with in my heart doesn’t feel good.

Rhonda and I have recently been watching the ‘Planet Earth’ series on the Discovery Channel, and we’ve been amazed at some of things we’ve seen; from birds of paradise contorting their feathers and performing a colourful and unique mating dance, to flocks of geese, millions strong, all migrating north together, to complex and finely balanced food chains and life cycles. We’ve seen footage of desolate and empty lands, and we’ve seen images of lush and abundant jungles. We’ve heard the cries and mating calls of many creatures, songs that are the animals’ own music. We’ve seen life, and we’ve seen death.

And in all of it, I see God’s fingerprint.

I submit that God is the most incredible artist. His variation of colour and sound and texture is simply infinite. He didn’t have to create landscapes that awe us. He didn’t have to give the animals unique songs that captivate us. Moreover, he didn’t have to create an appreciation for those things within us. Yet he did those things anyway.

He designed the cycle of life to be in perfect, perpetual balance according to His order. Did you know that there is a certain type of ant that feeds on a particular type of mushroom that is a parasitic fungus? When the ant eats it, it goes crazy and dies. It’s fellow ants carry the dead ant far from the colony, because the parasitic fungus then begins growing out of the ant corpse. It breaks the corpse down in to nutrients that feed the trees and plants that the ants colonize near and eat (along with the mushrooms). They eat the plants, and the mushrooms that grow out of it, and the cycle begins again. Rinse and repeat. What an imaginative and perfectly designed process!

He designed vivid colour contrast and complimentary tones in everything around us. When the sun crosses Ayers Rock, it appears to change colour. If you were to look at an aerial view of the Himalayas where they border India, you would see arid, dry, red and brown desert to the north, and lush, beautiful, vivid green forest to the south, cut right down the middle by the black and white streak of the snow-capped mountains. In the jungles you’ll find brightly coloured birds that stand out against the greens of the vegetation. And in the world’s oceans, there are creatures that are coloured so brightly and vividly that they make a perfect contrast for the deep blue of the ocean.

He designed the sounds of nature. Apes yelling at each other, waves crashing, whales singing their songs through the night, packs of wolves howling while on the hunt. They are all part of God’s symphony.

It makes me incredibly thankful that God sowed a piece of His artistry in me to make me an artist. And tt makes me wonder; if God can create such incredible art on a planet that falls so far short of perfect, what’s in store for us when we get to Heaven?

Set 1
1. Here Is Our King
2. Giver of Life
3. You Are Holy

Set 2
1. You Never Let Go
2. Wholly Yours

Thoughts
As much as I enjoyed having a week off from the set-up and tear-down last weekend, it was excellent to be back doing what I’m passionate about. Actually after a couple of weeks out, I felt kind of rusty going in to the morning, but after sound check was done, I was feeling pretty good.

We debuted a song that I wrote - You Are Holy - and quite frankly I was floored by the reaction that it got. It was really well received and a couple of people let me know how much they liked it. That’s affirming, but I have to remind myself that I didn’t write the song for my praise but for God’s praise. Joe and Joel both added some great ideas during rehearsal last Thursday, and the song works a million times better live than it does on a recording. Big props to them.

Before the second set, I shared some thoughts I had about our approach to worship. I’d been reading 2 Samuel 6, and I always feel challenged by King David’s act of worship and even more challenged by his response to those who criticized him. It seems to me that sometimes we get so wrapped up in the act of worship, like some holy motion that we go through to try and impress God or try and impress each other, that we forget the realities of worship; worship should be our heartfelt response to God, and it should consume every part of us, regardless of the thoughts or words or criticism of our peers.

The congregation really seemed to seek after Him in the second set, and I felt like we were all going there together, as a family. It was awesome. I left yesterday wanting to see Him more and know Him more and feel Him more. But even more than that, I left yesterday wanting to GIVE Him more and SERVE Him more.

Tonight Christian and I record the next podcast episode. I’m really excited about this one because Kurt and Taffy are coming in to talk about the challenges and joys of worship in a Junior High ministry. I’ve been looking forward to this for ages, so I’m glad that it’s happening. Back when I was a youth worship leader, I found the challenges that go along with it to be infinitely difficult and I was never truly passionate about it because of that, so I’m really looking forward to hearing from the guys who know far more than I do.

Who’d have thought it? I’ve got the #5 ‘Top Picks’ slot over at Myrrh Worship: