Renewed

So I was really struggling Spiritually for about a month... I didn't tell anyone and really thought that no one could tell. The Ironic thing is that the person who could tell the most was my old roomie Kim. She called me out all the way from Asheville, NC! haha! Well, about 2 weeks ago maybe 3 I started the book Soul School by Jeanne Stevens. I can not tell you how much this book has truly blessed my life and has renewed me. I am preaching next Sunday night and this book has inspired much of what I am going to speak on. From Christians trying to hide their sins from each other to focusing on the past instead of the present. Jeanne put Isaiah 43:19 out of the message translation into a chapter. It says,

Forget about what's happened;
don't keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?

Man that is good stuff! How many of us focus on what we did in our pasts or even wanting to go back to a certain time in our life when we feel like things are getting tough. INSTEAD we need to be alert and present because God is gonna ROCK our faces off if we are just expectant about it! I see this in our churches. We want to go back to the hay days but we forget that our hay days were some of the toughest times in our lives. We just remember how we felt after God brought us through those things. In the book Pop Goes The Church, by Tim Stevens, a question is posed... What would your community look like if your church was gone? Would people notice? and by people the author is not talking about the church goers and their friends but the people who do not attend and drive by on a daily basis. I know for Round Oak that all we do feeding people and helping them get by in tough times and on Wednesdays nights when the van runs to the trailer park to pick up the kids that those people would notice... they would notice that that help is no longer there. I just hope that we are seen as a light in this community and not just a social club!
So yeah that's what God has been teaching me lately!


Another Subject entirely is how much I love Dorothy Thomas... She is a pillar in our church and is the oldest member at like 98 or something like that... Today while playing Secretary she called to see if tomorrow during homecoming work day if someone would clean a plaque that was placed in memory of her husband... she said that in 26 years no one has probably cleaned it, but she was just hoping that someone could get around to it... That makes me want to go clean it right now! She never wants to inconvenience someone but is so sweet and loves her Jesus so much people just want to help her!

Pet Peeves

Kent Shaffer Blogs about Pet Peeves....

Top 10 Pet Peeves About Worship Leaders (with examples)

Asking the Congregation to do Something (21 responses)

• Makes us shake hands with the people around us.
• When a worship leader tells you to lift up your hands, it takes a meaningful personal action and turns it into a obligatory command.
• Talks like they’re at a high school pep rally, “Let me hear ya!”
• Asks how everyone is doing. We’re not at a concert, so we’re not going to scream.
• Tells you what to do and how to worship… to the point where it makes you feel guilty if you don’t conform yourself to her/his understanding of what worship is.
• I hate it when worship leaders script the worship too much by telling people what to do. I’ve had worship leaders completely distract me from God when they start telling me what to do.

Mini-Sermons & Talking (20 responses)

• Talks between every song.
• I am distracted when worship leaders start talking about anything that is not directions on what we are about to do.
• When they repeat the same catch-phrases every week.
• Breathy speaking between songs.
• Sermonettes are annoying if too long or common
• You can tell a mile away when a worship leader is “sharing” because he feels obligated to. It’s always a cheesy or over emotional blurb. When God’s really laid something on a worship leader’s heart, it’s cool. But even then, say it in less than 45 seconds! Don’t meander on for 3 minutes.

Not Focusing on God (17 responses)

• Forget that the audience of worship is God and start making it a performance for those sitting in front of them.
• When they perform rather than worship themselves.
• Showing zero emotion, standing still, focusing too much on perfection.
• Worship leaders who seem really wrapped up in being “cool.”
• Sometimes you can tell they’re being fake and/or showy.
• I hate it when the music guy/gal asks the crowd to praise God but soaks it up like they are Bono and the crowd is really praising them.
• I hate it when worship leaders don’t lead people.
  

Unprofessional (14 responses)

• Starts service late.
• Typos on the screen.
• Talks to the praise band while leading worship instead of using hand signals to tell them what to do.
• When the leader changes the key of the song and does not tell the rest of the team.
• Goes out of order or adds another song in the middle of the set
• When the leader and/or band member turns away from the people to mess with their gear.
• When the production team on stage are laughing, joking, and gesturing behind the worship leader to the soundboard guys in the transition between worship and the message.
  

Singing (11 responses)

• Can’t sing very well.
• Doesn’t know the lyrics.
• When worship leaders run words together.
• When they put their own little spin on simple, common words.
• Repeating the same line in a song 3.6 million times. There’s the Spirit’s leading and then there’s just plain losing people.
• Our old church’s leader would sing so high that no one could sing along. She provided no harmony for us to pick up. It was to showcase her own voice.
  

Appearance (9 responses)

• Sing with their eyes closed.
• When singers act like they are really bored up there.
• Wears crotch hugging jeans.
• Looks or sounds seductive.
• One of our young worship leaders had a really big hicky on his neck a couple of weeks ago.
  

Prayer (8 responses)

• Inauthentic prayer – too scripted or so random that it doesn’t make sense, or rushed/dragged out to make the prayer fit the interlude.
• Prays the words of the songs.
• When they can’t talk or pray appropriately between songs.
  

Bad Transitions (5 responses)

• Transitions between songs take long time.
• Allows uncomfortable dead time between songs.
• When they pray essentially the same prayer at a transition moment.
• Using the song name as an introduction/transition - “You know I was thinking about how much God has done for me…it really is ‘Amazing Grace’ isn’t it?”
  

Lifestyle (4 responses)

• When he’s obviously ungodly during practice and throughout life, but turns into a saint on Sunday morning.
• I hate to see a person who is suppose to be leading worship acting like a jerk before service and then getting up on stage acting like nothing ever happened.
• As a Pastor, I hate it when the music guy/gal is lazy apart from their 30 minute set on Sundays.
  

Catering to the Congregation (4 responses)

• When they hold back because they are obviously conscious of what the congregation and/or pastor will think.
• I hate it when worship leaders/pastors play to people who think the worship somehow revolves around what they like and what makes them feel good when it has absolutely nothing to do with our preferences or likes.
• Has to risk being a cheerleader because the people that claim to love God exhibit no sense of joy when singing about Him.

So I totally jacked this, but I thought it was interesting because of how much i cretique worship leading... IDK how i feel totally about this post but it was a fun read!

You know sometimes I don't understand people and how they think that because there kid is not "having fun" no kids are.... BLAH sometimes when I look at the church I get so frustrated especially when people try and run the church when i feel like they are just looking out for their own. Should church be about reaching as many people as possible and not just reaching our "church kids." As I look at my ministry and notice how I am constantly changing or trying to change with what my students are interested in and what not I am always trying to get new kids in the door... I wish we were all trying to reach those kids and not trying to please our church kids who don't care about Jesus in the first place they are forced to be there...