Immersion Worship

I got completely and utterly elf’d…

Now, Go Elf Yourself.

Since Starbucks is already chocked to the gills with Christmas paraphernalia and every shop I go in to is blaring Christmas music, I figured it’s time for the first Christmas post. In this case, it’s a “what [insert random pop culture element here] are you most like?” widgety thing.

And apparently, even though I have never in my life seen The Brady Bunch, that’s what my Christmas’s are most like. Go figure.

Your Christmas is Most Like: A Very Brady Christmas

For you, it’s all about sharing times with family. Even if you all get a bit cheesy at times.

I’m afraid that you’re going to have go without a worship confessional this week, as I’m sick, and have been sick for five days, and I’m quite tired of being sick, but nevertheless I don’t have much of a voice to speak with thus can’t record a video confessional. So, hopefully this ‘Text-fessional’ will be good enough.

Pre-Service
1. You Are The One (James Ridgers)

Set 1
1. Everlasting God (Brenton Brown)
2. Because of Your Love (Paul Baloche)

Set 2
1. Here I Am To Worship (Tim Hughes)
2. Better Is One Day (Matt Redman)
3. Facedown (Matt Redman)

Thoughts
Of course, not having much of a voice to speak with equated to not having much of a voice to sing with. After guzzling copious amounts of Cran-Apple tea with a bit of honey in it, I managed to scrape things together enough to get through the morning.

It was a Summit Unplugged Sunday today (or, as Joel likes to say, we are “plugish” on account of some amplification), so Set-Up was easier than normal. That was a good job to, because we had to reconfigure our monitor set-up and our sound guru, Clinton, wasn’t there (he and his wife just gave birth to twins; congratulations Clinton and Shonnie!), so between myself, Felipe, and Misty, we managed to get things up and running.

Line up was pretty standard for our unplugged sets; two acoustic guitars, a djembe, and bass. But we did with a twist; our bass player played an upright bass rather than a bass guitar, and it was completely awesome. It brought a new element and something fresh to the sound, and it was also a lot of fun.

We set up the stage like it was our living room; three black ottoman’s arranged in a half circle for myself (guitar and vocals), Joe (guitar), and Jaime (guitar). Joel (djembe) was sat on the edge of the stage, with Robert (bass) stood just behind him. It was very relaxed and helped create the chilled-out vibe we were aiming for.

The first set was pretty good. My voice cracked a couple of times, but Jaime carried it, and I felt like the congregation (smaller than usual because of Thanksgiving) followed and got in to it all. Then Scott preached an awesome message titled ‘follow’, based off of Matthew 9:9-11, and spent time emphasizing the ‘doctors aren’t here for the healthy’ point. Really cool.

The second set was great because we did all three songs in the same key, so flowed easily between them and swapped back and forth between Facedown and Better Is One Day. But by the end of the set, I was just about done. As Jaime so eloquently put it at the end of service, I sounded like “one of those hot, raspy guys”. Thanks. I think. Pack up, tear down, get home, sleep.

Next week we’re back to the full band line-up, live and loud. And, hopefully, healthier.

How was your Sunday?

So last night, while rehearsing the band, I was in a horrible mood. I was snappy and pissy and irritable probably because I was feeling a bit under the weather. That’s no excuse, but that’s likely to be the reason.

Anyway, there came a moment in the rehearsal where I finally got my head out of my butt. We were playing through ‘Better Is One Day’, working on some new ideas with it, trying a couple of things out, and suddenly the band clicked like we’ve never clicked before. The song took a new direction and the ‘chemistry’ was there. At that moment, I think we all let go of the song and really worshipped. Which, clearly, was exactly what I needed to do.

I left the rehearsal studio feeling rather small and completely incompetent as a team leader, based on my combative behaviour earlier in the evening, but that one moment really put some perspective on the pettiness of my humanity. David really did hit the nail on the head when he said that it’s infinitely better to spend one day, one moment of time, in His presence than anywhere else for any length of time.

And on that note, have a very Happy Thanksgiving…

Young & keen, it’s number fifteen.

Also…Sermon Confessional #1, and Merci Confessional #1. Check it out, yo…

Generally speaking, this is how I get woken up most days.

And you think I’m kidding, don’t you?

So Tam has kindly tagged me. That’s blogspeak for ‘answer these questions about yourself, then ask someone else to answer them too’.

Apparently, the rules are that I must share 7 random and/or weird factoids about myself, then ‘tag’ 7 people and link to them. I’m not sure that I know enough people. Anyway, here’s 7 random facts…

1. I’m scared of spiders. Deathly, paralytically scared of them. Anything bigger than the nail on my pinky (which is very small because I bite my nails) and I either freak or I freeze. And if you think it’s funny to scare me with a spider, I will punch in the face incredibly hard. I mean it.

2. I had an emergency appendectomy in 2001, but because I had consumed a massive amount of chinese takeaway just mere hours before the operation, the doctors had to choke me to stop me from vomiting from the anesthetic and thereby involuntarily choking myself and dying.

3. I have five older sisters. Yes, you read that right. I’m the only boy. Growing up in my house was fuuuun!

4. I have two tattoos and want a third. I have my wife’s initial on my left peck manboob, and some aramaic text on my right peck manboob that says “to worship with music”. I want to get a really cool celtic/tribal looking design on my upper arm in the shape of a guitar.

5. My music collection can be considered eclectic and random at best. It’s not unusual for me to listen to Nirvana, London Symphony Orchestra, David Bowie, and Sade all in the same playlist. Although I tend to stay away from the devil’s music (gangsta rap and country).

6. Despite playing pretty much only the guitar these days, the first instrument I learned to play was the drums. I can also play bass, and dabble in a little keyboards from time to time. However, I don’t read music; I play entirely by ear. My dad, who is a musical genius and an incredibly accomplished musician, thinks I’m limiting myself. I don’t know if I agree or disagree with that.

7. I work as a technical projects manager for a software firm in Orange County. While music and worship are my absolute passions, and I would love to do them for a living, I actually enjoy my job. Most of the time.

Alright, there’s your 7 facts. Now for some tags…

Kurt. My brother-in-law. He’s the jr high pastor at Saddleback. One of the coolest and most authentic people I know.

I’ll think of six more in the morning…I’m wiped out.

If you’ve been in ministry leadership for any length of time, I’m certain you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say the words “the downsides of being a leader are…”.

Today was one of those days where the downsides are a reality rather than an unpleasant thought stuck in the corner of my mind.

I try my best to be as transparent and as authentic and as open with my pastor and with my team aspossible. Part of that is just recognizing and disclosing my own idiosyncrasies - and there are plenty of them to go around - and part of it is knowing when to simply accept the same in others, or call those flaws (for want of a better word) to account. And today was the latter.

You see, as great as The Summit is (and it really is a wonderful, Christ filled community of faith and love), we face constant challenge and frustration in certain areas. When those challenges and frustrations begin to spill over on to my team and affect the desire to serve and the positivity that we do our best to maintain and grow and nurture, the selfish instinct of my pastoral responsibility kicks in; “I must protect the unity of my team.”

And inevitably, tough conversations follow. Tough questions get asked. Tough decisions must be made. Some internal auditing and analysis and criticism becomes necessary. And I HATE it. Really. I know it’s a necessary part of leadership, but I despise that part. It’s always a struggle.

Of course, whenever I go through these moments, there are lessons I learn and I emerge having grown stronger and wiser for it. I like to think I have my finger on the pulse most of the time, but I’m learning that sometimes all I get is a flatline. However, after days like today, I feel like I feel the pulse stronger.

I’m aware that I’m being somewhat vague with this post, and that’s because I don’t want to paint anyone in a bad light or make public something that really doesn’t need to be. I say all this to say the following:

I am out of my mind.

In a good way.

I came across a verse today that lifted me out of my self-absorption and put things back in perspective; 2 Corinthians 5:13:

If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

I’m lucky enough to know The Truth, to know The Way, to know The Life. Who am I to wave a white flag every time I go through a struggle that has been put there to strengthen me? Who am I to even entertain the idea of feeling sorry for myself?

Here’s what it comes down to: it’s been one of those days. Suck it up.

Valentines Day, 14…