thebabyandthebathwater

Moving

2009-01-17T18:01:00.002Z

This blog has now moved to

www.thebabyandthebathwater.wordpress.com

see you there I hope

The Greatest Legacy

2009-01-16T12:32:00.002Z

The greatest legacy we can leave for the next generation is the fruit of our obedience to God.

The Biggest Challenge for the church

2009-01-14T20:44:00.001Z

At this point in history at the beginning of the 21st century I think one of the biggest challenges to the worldwide church is not that it won’t be able to devise programs of evangelism, that it won’t be able to run mercy ministries to the poor, or that it won’t be able to find it’s political voice in our nations. It’s biggest challenge is to hold on to the wonder of, experience the life changing power of, and devote itself passionately to it’s gathered, sung worship.

(quote is mine)

Thoughts for the year

2008-12-27T11:04:00.004Z

In the second post of my year end review, here are some sayings this year that I have found helpful.

1. You don’t need to have a mac book pro and an avalon guitar to lead worship well, but it does help.

2. Walk more slowly and surely. Real fruit, more often than not, comes from a steady, persistent, non-dramatic, walk with God.

3. Enjoy the big conference, event, or central concert where everything seems so perfect. But don’t mistake it for church. Church has much more to do with people turning up late, guitars being out of tune, ear-splitting feedback, and playing ‘how great is our god’ again.

4. Take coffee more seriously. It really does effect your anointing.

5. The Christian worship CD market is all but over. Deal with it.

6. Remember that most leadership is about bringing about change. If you constantly feel like you are stretching your team slightly beyond where they want to be, then you may just be doing some things right.

7. You get most things done in church because of relationship. Structures can help, but there’s no value in becoming structurally strong and relationally weak. Whole churches and church movements die because they don’t understand this.

8. See if you can get through the next year without singing ‘Shine Jesus Shine’. I’ve done it for 7 years in a row now. My soul feel alive.

9. Stop knocking Graham Kendrick.

10. Acknowledge that for most church congregations, worship is like jelly. It is messy and wobbles a lot. The worst thing worship leaders can do is try and nail it to a wall.

I'm a MAC

2008-12-22T18:59:00.004Z

One of my friends caught this picture whilst we were setting up for our Carol Service at Cheltenham Racecourse yesterday.

It portrays one of my highest values in life.

You can see some sensible pictures on our church website www.trinitycheltenham.com

Wonderful CD's

2008-12-17T19:02:00.003Z

As 2008 draws to a close, it is good to reflect on some worship things. And in my seasonal reflections, I want to start with some worship cd's.

OK, so regular readers of my blog know that I am a little tired of most worship cd's. But there have been some recently that have made their way into my car stereo and been given a few - sometimes more than a few - airings. They stay in my car stereo because they actually lift my Spirit and help me encounter God - yes even in the car.

I would do a top 10 list. But actually I think I can only find 4 I like.

Break the Silence - Johnny Parks

This has been in my car for months now - most of the last year in fact. I think it actually came out in 2007, but I only picked it up this year. It is a beautiful album, with a couple of incredible musical and emotional moments. There is a real depth to the lyrics that seems to be born out of a desire to worship rather than just write songs - depth that is also reflected in the arrangements and the mixes which are powerful but not harsh. If I have one gripe - although it's a minor one - it seems that it's almost impossible these days to get a worship album 'for this generation' that doesn't start with an overdone, energetic guitar riff predictably diving into an uptempo sort of anthem type thing. Why is that? Is it just that I am now not 'this generation' so 'don't understand'.

This is our God - Hillsong

Famed in the summer for it's inclusion of the song 'healer' by fallen pastor Mike Gugliellmucci, this is a great album. In fact, I still really like the song 'healer' although understandably it's not really being used in churches since. My children, mercifully unaffected by the sad story that surrounds it, still love the song and keep asking for us to play it. An innocence that we as parents want to protect for a lot longer. This song aside, there are still some other great songs, including 'stronger' and the title track. Creatively, though, it is much the same as previous Hillsong albums. But actually in this case it doesn't bother me. This, after all, is essentially a church at worship and they are just being themselves. That's fine by me. Only gripe? Well the first couple of songs are a bit 'out there' and start with that usual guitar riff thing......

Nothing to Fear - David Gate

Previously of Survivor Records, but now just doing stuff in and for and with church (my church!), David released his latest album that he also produced himself. Can't say enough things positive about these songs and this album. It starts well, too (No guitar riff). Sonically this is very different to anything else I've heard in a while. The instruments sound like what they are meant to sound like - much more acoustic and real than on most over-produced albums. Songs are great. None of mine, though, so it only gets 9.5/10 rather than the full 10/10 if one of my tunes had been on there.

Wonderful Story - Eoghan Heaslip

Just out. Wonderful songs. Great vocals. Now of course I am biased as Eoghan is a friend and we have led worship together for many years. And also, Eoghan is someone who has benefited hugely from this year's x-factor - because now everyone knows how to pronounce his name...But bias aside, this is still a great cd. Eoghan and I wrote some songs together earlier in the year, and it's exciting to hear them make it on this album, and hear them produced by someone of the calibre of Nathan Nockles. The King has come, The way that you father me, What you've called me to, All to You...the list goes on. Great song after great song. The guitar riff intro is back though.......

Now I would, of course, mention my cd too, only it came out 3 years ago. Funny though. I didn't want to listen to it for ages after I made it. But this year I have been listening to it much more. I still love the sound that Clever Trevor brought to it. The strings from Prague are awesome. James White's solos are just incredible. And there in the middle of it all somewhere is a somewhat stumbling worship leader. Anyway, as I say, I would mention it, but I've just realised that the opening track begins with this guitar riff......

Songs of Praise vs Jonathan Ross

2008-12-09T08:56:00.003Z

There is a great article in the telegraph about songs of praise today. You can read it here.

I once appeared on Songs of Praise. It was some 20 years ago, and I appeared with Graham Kendrick and Ben Castle. Our fledgling worship band at Trinity in Norwich played one of Graham’s finest tunes - Meekness and Majesty.

There - you didn’t know I was so famous with such an auspicious cv in the media, did you?

But let’s face it, if you are anything like me, over the last 20 years you have probably mocked Songs of Praise regularly, with it’s general cheese and old people in hats, introduced by such cheesy characters as Aled Jones. (Although there is one exception - Diane Louise Jordan makes it all worthwhile..). We all have probably publicly mocked it, whilst privately switching it on every now and then on a Sunday evening just to check up on it. Just for educational and information purposes, of course....

Well it now transpires, if we are to believe the Telegraph, that Songs of praise was getting around the same number of viewers each week as Jonathan Ross, until he was ‘rested’ recently following that radio thing. Only of course Jonathan Ross got paid millions of pounds each year, and songs of praise got....well a lot less.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind if Jonathan Ross disappeared from our screen forever. Admittedly he can be very, very funny, but generally I find his material offensive and overtly sexual and degrading. And of course, now he picked on one of our national treasures (Andrew Sachs) it should be curtains. He may find a home in the US for his awful material - but let the US have him if they want.

But what is more interesting is that, somehow, the British people are valuing Songs of Praise as highly as Jonathan Ross in terms of viewing figures. And now everyone is probably seriously questioning the multi-million price tag he has, up to now, demanded.

My own view is that, whereas over the last 20 years most people have judged things by cost, with the current financial climate, people are now judging things by value. Not only does this hopefully spell the end for Mr Ross, but it also presents us with a huge opportunity to spread and communicate hope that is Jesus Christ. There is an openness to the gospel in a way that hasn’t existed for many, many years. And as The Church we should not be dialing back on our mission, but stepping up to the mark.

And whilst we’re about it, maybe we should start to sing the praises of Songs of Praise just a little bit more.

Dr Sentamu talking sense

2008-12-07T18:06:00.002Z

Once again, Dr Sentamu stands up, and is counted.

He says:

“At a time when a creeping social Darwinism is on the rise, where life is measured in terms of its quality or usefulness, the Church remains the last bastion of defence for those who would find themselves close to jettison by society”.

As the recession bites, the Established Church must rediscover its confidence and self-esteem. “The Church of England must once again be a beacon by which the people of England can orientate themselves in an unknown ocean."

He also says:

There is a strong case for regarding the Church as a public body that does not exist simply to serve believers.

The case is more than strong. In my mind it's overwhelming.

Christmas is coming

2008-11-15T19:57:00.004Z

At the moment we are preparing for Christmas at church. And this year we’ve called it ‘Wonder’.

Wonder is one of those characteristics of life that is in very short supply. It’s pretty much counter-cultural these days to admit to live with it. We live in a world where everything boils down to an explanation. It seems that as a generation we can’t rest until we know, until we can explain, until we have the reasons. We also can’t commit to anything we don’t understand, or have all the answers about.

One of the most quoted passages in the bible on worship is Romans 12 v1, where we are urged to be living sacrifices - wholly and pleasing to God, as this is our spiritual act of worship. Too often though we miss the word ‘therefore’ that starts this passage off. And in this case the ‘therefore’ is a response to Romans 11 that talks about the truly unfathomable, inexplicable, indescribable nature of God.

What we are being called to, it seems, is to worship someone - God - who we will never fully know, understand, explain. In short - we are to live in a place of wonder.

And for me, that is what keeps worship alive - keeps me searching, keeps me following, keeps me singing. The fact that I will never be able to fully understand, fully appreciate, fully comprehend God - who He is or why He does what He does.

We in our churches and in our ministries need to live in wonder. We can’t reduce our lives as worshippers to a set of procedures, creeds or profit and loss accounts. We need to linger in the cloud a little more - not try and explain it, manage it, control it, assess it. But pause in that place where things are mysterious and let the wonder grow. It's what brings life alive.

Christmas is a time of wonder: but that wonder should never be confined to a few days at the end of December. It should stay with us from the cradle to the grave.

And well beyond.

Yes and Amen

2008-11-13T20:19:00.003Z

Thanks to Dave Gate for putting me onto this: it’s a blog article from a pastor in Belfast.

Now I detest being told the latest worship leader is in town and we should all go to see or hear him/her. I have not bought a CD for over ten years and strangely seem no worse off in terms of my spiritual journey. If anything I am even more energised about following Jesus than I have ever been. I deplore adverts to buy worship, competitions to see who has sold the most, worship concerts, launching a CD, and “they have their own sound”. Can you imagine advertising the sale of your pastoral care, having a chart with best pastors on it, a theatre where you could come and watch someone delivering the latest pastoral care, launching your latest best pastoral care phrases in multiple languages and having a manager and a tour. Preserve me from the madness that has beset us! Adrian Mccartney

Most of the worship industry is now doing the church a disservice. I for one am not just holding it at arms length, but purposely walking away from it. And as I do, I find myself financially worse off, but strangely richer.

Change Has Come to America

2008-11-08T16:07:00.005Z

Sometimes a single image can make a point so much more profoundly than many words:

The Serpent

2008-11-06T21:58:00.005Z

I came across this display on a recent trip to Derbyshire - it was in a great museum in a very old, Tudor house.

It talks about the use of an instrument in churches around that time, strangely called the serpent - clearly because of it’s shape. It says this:

Unfortunately, the prominence given to musical expression at the expense of liturgy and the generally unihibited manner of playing and singing was not for the most part to the liking of the clergy. A Suffolk clergyman expressed himself thus in 1764:

“The performers form themselves into a round ring, with their faces to each other and their backs to the congregation. Here they murder Anthems, chuse improper Psalms, leave off in the middle of a sentence, sing psalms of all kinds to new jiggish tunes”

These ensembles eventually fell victim to the introduction of organs and a more sober and respectable conception of church music in the Victorian period.

Thomas Hardy’s novel ‘Under the Greenwood Tree’ has a secondary theme which deals with the supplanting of the traditional church band by the new-fangled organ: “Times have changed from the times they used to be. Barrel organs, and the things next door to ‘em that you blow wi’ your foot have come in terribly of late years. Time was when not one of the varmits was to be heard of; but it served some of the quires right. They should have stuck to strings as we did, and kept out clarinets, and done away with serpents. If you’d thrive in musical religion, stick to strings, says I. Yet there’s worse things than serpents. Old things pass away, ‘tis true; but a serpent was a good old note: a deep rich note was the serpent. Clarinets, however, be bad at all times”

So let’s get this straight. The clergy were moaning about their musicians, musicians were playing badly, and organs were despised by everyone apart from the church choir.

Now where have I heard all that before?

The Language of the Kingdom

2008-10-17T14:28:00.006+01:00

The language and activity of the Kingdom seems to be something that wider church is beginning to forget. Not everywhere - I am part of a church where we push into the things of the kingdom wherever we can. Maybe we’re not great at it, and along the way we stumble and fall. But it is part of our language, and it is our whole-hearted intention to see it’s activity. But the thankfulness I have at being part of such a church is matched by a sadness that I don't see enough of it elsewhere.

The Kingdom is quite hard to define - even after so many books have discussed it and explained it. This ‘here but not complete’, ‘come but not fulfilled’, ‘present but in the future’, ‘fully in power but not fully revealed’ kingdom still manages to be surrounded in mystery, but is central to our lives as followers of the King.

Often the kingdom’s activity is momentary, surprising, and unpredictable, and so as fast as we try and devise formulas and courses and training programs to capture it, it moves on and we are left scrabbling to keep up. But in the kingdom, opportunities present themselves in the 'here and now' and need a 'here and now' response. We can prepare for the moment, but not predict when it will come.

And of course the Kingdom is totally King-centred. The activity of the kingdom always gives glory and honour and recognition and wisdom and power back to the King. There is no other shareholder, there is no other stake-holder, no political power-sharing agreement in place. The Kingdom is the King’s. The correct order of this universe is that the King comes first. There is no second place.

And ultimately the kingdom grows when we give it space to breath. And this can only happen when we intentionally give the King permission to be the King. Our motives, selfishness, and ministry aspirations can all crowd Him out.

And worship is at the heart of the kingdom. Not only the day-to-day lifestyle of worship, but the intentional coming-together-and-singing-the-songs worship. As we worship we lay down our agendas and welcome His agenda. As we lift up holy hands we are raising a banner high that says ‘this is your time and this is your place. Have Your way and do Your stuff’. And when our songs are intertwined with faith and obedience God moves. The mystery has been welcomed, the moment has been surrendered, the correct order has been established, and the space has been created: God of Glory have your glory.

In the Kingdom there is no space for another’s glory. There are no performers, stars or divas. There are no number one hits or award winners or song-charts or sell out gigs. All these things just confuse the kingdom. And the kingdom, though mysterious, is not confusing. There has never been any confusion. It is just for Him. Always has been. Always will be.

Church, don’t stop talking the language and walking the journey that is the kingdom. Keep pursuing the mystery, keep living in the moment, keep everything in the correct order, and make sure the King has the space to move.

God of Glory, have Your glory.

Far Reaching

2008-10-09T18:03:00.003+01:00

A couple of days ago I posted a joke about George Bush.

One of my friends read it, and sent it to one of his friends, who sent it to her uncle, who works for the Obama Presidential campaign, where it has been very much appreciated in the Obama Camp.

Good to know that my blog is now reaching the highest echelons of world politics.

Beat that Hitchmo

My Mother

2008-10-08T20:26:00.004+01:00

When I was growing up, I never really understood why my mother did what she did.

She used to feed up the cold meat from the Sunday roast on a Monday.
She used to wash our plastic sandwich bags so they could be used again the next day.
She used to re-use silver foil.
She used to get annoyed when we left lights on.
She used to say 'you can have coffee or squash, but not both'
She used to put the left-overs in little dishes in the fridge.
She used to make us walk rather than get a lift in the car.
She told us to put on another jumper, not the radiator.
She told us to look after the pennies and the pounds would look after themselves.
She used to moan about the way we put our foot on the accelerator.
She used to darn our socks and sew up our jumpers and tell us 'they will do for another year'.

I never really understood why my mother did what she did.

I do now.

Time for a joke

2008-10-05T15:26:00.001+01:00

One sunny day in 2009, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Ave, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the US Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine looked at the man and said, “Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The old man said, “Okay” and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.”

The man thanked him and, again just walked away

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same US Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.”

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I’ve told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man looked at the Marine and said, “Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.”

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

I don't get it

2008-09-27T20:51:00.008+01:00

I just don't get it.

Apparently solving world poverty is unachievable because it is too expensive. The poverty line is people living off less than $1.25 per day, of which there are 1.4 billion (source, the world bank, August 2008).

In the UK alone the average bonus to bankers was just under £200k last year. Adding up to around £40 billion.

The USA can (nearly) agree a $700b rescue package for a group of over-paid bankers.

Am I being stupid? I know it's some 20 years ago since I got my maths desgree, but even I can do the sums.

And they don't add up.

Blessed is he who does not blog in the ways of unrighteousness

2008-09-27T10:06:00.004+01:00

The church, well the evangelical alliance, has come up with the 'ten commandments of blogging'. We at Trinity are doing some thinking about blogging generally at the moment as we are wanting to make sure we are using this potentially powerful way of communicating well.

I have to say, that much of this is helpful, because it seems to me that one way to get a big blog-following is to court controversy, rather than engage in sensible honest debate. However, I would prefer to see some discussion on the positives. And that's why I am excited that we as a church are trying to get to grips with it. I am always of the opinion that the best way to be critical of something is to be creative, and hopefully at the end of our discussion we will come up with something that is truly positive and life giving, rather than just something that encourages negativity.

Anyway, for the moment, here is the EA's view. You can see the full article here.

1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity.
2. You shall not make an idol of your blog.
3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by taking one day off a week from your blog.
5. Honour your fellow-bloggers above yourselves and do not give undue significance to their mistakes.
6. You shall not murder someone else’s honour, reputation or feelings.
7. You shall not use the web to commit or permit adultery in your mind.
8. You shall not steal another person’s content.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your fellow-blogger.
10.You shall not covet your neighbour's blog ranking. Be content with your own content.

Arsenal

2008-09-25T14:25:00.001+01:00

The memory of 1989 will never die. The pain of that goal in the last minute that robbed Liverpool of the title they deserved will stay with me. Forever. And this is one of the main reasons that I, and so many other Liverpool fans, hate Arsenal.

But even I have to confess, that I have found something good that has come out of the club. And it is their motivational handout. Presumably this has it’s source in Arsene Wenger. He’s not a Christian, or at least he’s keeping it pretty quiet if he is. But this stuff is great, and could be something a church leader came up with. OK, so a few important things are missing, like Jesus, but other than that, it’s probably really helpful.

Team

A team is a strong as the relationships within it. The driving force of a team is it’s member’s ability to create and maintain excellent relationships within the team that can add an extra dimension and robustness to the team dynamic. This attitude can be used by our team to focus on the gratitude and the vitally important benefits that the team brings to our own lives. It can be used to strengthen and deepen the relationships within it and maximise the opportunities that await a strong and united team.

Our team becomes stronger by:

-Displaying a positive approach on an off the pitch
-Everyone making the right decisions for the team
-Having an unshakeable belief that we can achieve our target
-Believe in the strength of the team
-Always want more - always give more
-Focus on our communication
-Be demanding with yourself
-Be fresh and well prepared to win
-Focus on being mentally stronger and always keep going to the end
-When we play away from home, believe in our identity and play the football we love to play at home.
-Stick together
-Stay grounded and humble as a player and as a person
-Show the desire to win in all that you do
-Enjoy and contribute to all that is special about being in a team - don’t take it for granted.

Contentment

2008-09-23T18:58:00.000+01:00

content: satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.

I have learned the secret of being content (Philippians 4, 12)

What is the secret of being content?

Contentment seems to be a quality in very short supply in our time and in our culture. In fact, more often that not, discontentment abounds. Most obvious in material things, it also rears it’s often unattractive head in relationships, in family life, in work and career. And it also seems to be evident by the bucket load in ministry. We want the bigger portfolio, we want the wider repute, we want the greater sales, we want to be leading the bigger conference.

And actually, some discontentment is good. It is good to want more of God, it is good to want more of his kingdom reign. It is good to want to be more effective in our lives. But how do we differentiate between a ‘good’ discontentment, and a ‘bad’ discontentment, because the lines are often very blurred (or at least, it is very easy for us to make them seem blurred).

It seems to me that most people I come across in ministry know their identity in Jesus. They know that they are saved, that they are a children God, that God loves them and has set them apart for a purpose. But there are far fewer people that have gone beyond this and worked out what that purpose is: what their calling really is. This lack of understanding about calling leaves a vacuum which gets filled with unhealthy ambition which all-to-often is never really satisfied, and leads to constant discontentment.

The ‘bad’ sort.

It tends to result in the chasing after things that shouldn’t be chased after in order to gain praise or recognition; trying to build empires of responsibility and influence that give an illusion of purpose and power; fighting your own corner to give an impression of significance or importance. In a word - insecurity.

Discontentment and insecurity. What a potentially explosive and destructive combination!

So the question is - do we really know what our God given calling is?

Of course, it’s very hard to condense into a few sentences but for me:

I think I am called to be a dedicated ‘second chair’ leader. Understanding this stops me trying to pursue being the ‘number one’ in a church, going for ordination, or church planting; I think I am primarily called to lead worship in my church. Understanding this stops me feeling undervalued when I don’t get asked to do hundreds of huge conferences all over the world; I think I am called to write and not preach. Understanding this means that I am not putting wasted energy in getting better at public speaking, or getting distracted to pursue speaking engagements; I think I am primarily called to be a songwriter, but not a recording artists. It means I focus my time writing songs, either on my own, or in partnership, and don’t try and pursue record deals; I think I am more and more called to use what position and influence I have to give other people every chance of success. It means that when people I invest in do well, or better than me, I take it as a compliment rather than a threat.

And in this process I have found out that often my effectiveness, my passions, my enjoyment, my strengths all tend to point towards my calling. The things that come more naturally point to the things I think I should, if I can, put most of my efforts into.

It’s not that calling doesn’t change over time - God may very quickly shut some doors and open others - and so we constantly need to have listening ears. But there is a great sense of contentment at understanding what we are called to do, and trying to do that - and only that - with as much enthusiasm and excellence and fruitfulness as possible.

Victory is Assured

2008-09-21T21:23:00.002+01:00

Even Microsoft uses a mac.

Respect

2008-09-19T15:22:00.002+01:00

There is a lovely elderly couple who I regularly bump into in my new-found second office, cafe nero. They are polite and dignified, well dressed and well spoken. The first time I spoke to them, she expressed her obvious pride in her husband, and his continued well being and perkiness, finishing with the phrase ‘you wouldn’t think he was 90 would you?’.

My first thought was ‘well actually yes I would’.

You see my own assessment of his ‘perkiness’ is slightly less positive than his wife, given that he looks like he could topple over every time he moves and that every lift of his coffee cup was accompanied with a worrying wobble and much huffing and puffing. In fact if I’m totally honest I am surprised, and slightly relieved, when he makes it through the next week.

However, there is something in me, when I chat with them, that wants to refer to them as ‘sir’ and ‘madam’. Which is strange really, because that feels very old-fashioned. But I somehow think this would please them, and show one of those good old values that in culture today is not really in abundance - respect.

As a worship leader of some years now, I have been through the times where the old has been steadily replaced by the new. In fact I have been around so long that even what was new is now old and there is a new even newer new.

If you see what I mean.

As we’ve gone through changes in our worship, from choirs to vocalists, from organists to worship leaders, from pianos to guitars, from hymns to choruses and on to anthems, I have experienced, and probably been party to, some moments of arrogance, of unhelpful words, and disparaging critisism of what has gone before. Those pressing for the new wine often seem to be people who are disrespectful of the old wine. And I’m not sure that is Jesus’ way.

Jesus himself represented a complete change when He came walked this earth. His appearance heralded the end of the sacrificial form of worship, the end of the temple as the only place of worship. He represented the ultimate challenge to old wine and the greatest initiator of all things new. Yet despite this, he remained totally respectful of what went before. Whether that was in the way he remained in the temple when he was 12 teaching in the place he called his Father’s house, or whether later in His life in the clearing of the temple of the traders. Yes, He was very obviously critical of hypocrisy of some of the religious leaders, but alongside that he seemed to be totally respectful of the institutions and places of worship that had for so long been the focal point of people’s worship.

It seems to me that we could, as a generation of worship leaders seeking the new things, learn to be more respectful of the things, and people, that have gone before. In our desire to continually catch the wind of the Spirit and where He blows, let us never become disrespectful of those things and people who have brought us thus far.

Having respect doesn't mean that we aren't challenging and forthright when we sense change is needed. It just ensure we handle that change in a dignified and godly way.

Tools of the Trade

2008-09-09T10:49:00.001+01:00

There used to be a time when, if you wanted to be a worship leader, you needed to have access to a guitar or keyboard to play; you needed the support and guidance of a church leadership to help identify and nurture your gifting; and you needed to live in a community where you want to serve the people of that community.

Now it seems that you need access to a MAC to write your tunes; you need the support and guidance of a record company to help shape and market your songs; and you need to live near an airport to give you easy access to the town, city or country where your next concert is held.

OK, so maybe I’m being a little harsh.

But it does seem to me that there is a huge danger for worship leaders, and also church leaders and speakers, to slowly, but surely, over time, distance themselves from involvement within their own local church. But why does that happen?

Well I think that one of the reasons is that we get ‘ministry-weary’ in our local church: we find that, after a number of years, we find it tough choosing yet another set of songs for Sunday; we get tired of having another Sunday taken up with ministry rather than family; we loose the spark that fires us to pressing into God and what he is doing in our own local church in order to write yet another song.

Compare that with: we find that we can choose a song set that works and then use it in many towns and cities that we travel to without having to work at a new one; we can do our concerts during the week so that we can still relax on Sundays, have our roast dinner and then doze in front of the TV watching the golf; we can use the song we wrote last year again and again and leave the writing of the new songs until we have that well earned rest in Barbados later in the year.

And I can sort of understand that. In many ways, it is easier for me to lead worship at New Wine for a few days in the summer, with it’s big gathering, with it’s sense of anticipation, and sense of ‘new-ness’ than for me to lead worship week in week out at Trinity.

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh. But the question remains - how do we stop ourselves becoming weary with our local church ministry.

Well I’d like to suggest a few things that I find helpful. These are just what are working for me at the moment.

-Stay connected to your church leadership, and see the bigger picture of what you are doing at your church.

-Have a realistic opinion of yourself and what your ministry can achieve: there is a danger that we overestimate the impact our ministry has on the worldwide church and underestimate the impact our ministry has on our own local church.

-Listen to testimonies of what God is doing in your congregation. Seek out good news stories. Encourage people to give glory to God by sharing the good things he has done.

-Read books that talk about God and not just about worship. Make this a higher priority than purchasing every worship album under the sun and analysing it to death.

-Connect yourself with other worship leaders in other churches that are doing what you are doing. Make this a higher priority than getting to the next big worship conference/live recording.

-Remember you are not in a competition to have the best worship ministry; you are in a battle to see the kingdom extended.

Healer

2008-09-04T13:35:00.001+01:00

This situation is so tragic. I’m sure you’ve heard all about it now. I was on holiday when a friend sent me a text saying that Mike Guglielmucci, the writer of the song ‘healer’ has actually never had cancer.

My first reaction was a combination of anger and sadness. The fact that someone had purposely deceived a whole load of people in order, so it seemed, to get a profile for himself and, maybe more significantly (at least financially), a song, felt outrageous.

And part of it was frustration, because I had fallen for the song and the testimony hook line and sinker. I was really moved by the story and loved the song. The power of testimony is so strong, and this one was, on the face of it, one of the most powerful I had heard.

Now I’m not the sort of person who would say ‘I thought there was something strange’ or ‘I never really liked the song’. But I sort of wish that I was that prophetic that I could have smelt the wiff of something dodgy a mile off. But I’m not, and I didn’t, and it was frustrating.

And of course then the full story came to light. Mike was using the cancer story to cover up another issue in his life. And apparently he wasn’t ‘found out’ but he confessed. And he confessed in response to the voice of God telling him to sort it out. Of course we might want to view anything that is reported on this now with a fair degree of scepticism, but it seems like all the money is being paid back as well, and that Mike is going through counselling. All of which is good.

But how do I react as a worship leader who has used the song regularly, even at a national conference like new wine this summer.

Well, the first thing always on my mind is that my fundamental task as a worship leader is to gather people together for an encounter with God, and that everything I do should have the aim of setting people’s attention on Him. And for that reason alone, at this moment in time, my view is that I should lay the song aside and not use it, at least for a season while things settle down. Yes I know that the song is good, and was probably inspired by God, and speaks truth. But I think that at the moment if I use it either I, or the congregation, will have the current tragic circumstances brought to mind, and my job is to put people’s attention on God, not on someone else’s tragic circumstances.

The other thing that I feel tempted to do is make some sort of statement by using the song - you know, that every worship song is probably inspired by God, but written by someone with some measure of sin in their lives - which is probably true - so I will use it to make a point. But again, my role as a worship leader is not to make statements, or make points, but to lead people into an encounter with God. And for that reason also, I want to lay the song down for a season.

But I do hope this song will come back into the worshiping life of our church at some point. Once the story has faded away from our radars a bit, and hopefully we hear of a measure of restoration in Mike, then I see no reason why it shouldn’t. And just to show I am hopefully being consistent, I still use Prosch songs, and Carl Tuttle songs. Of course the other issue is that issue of money - some people will argue that, since a songwriter potentially gets a few pence when one of their songs is used in a church, then we should be sure of a songwriters absolute integrity before we use the song. Well good luck with that one. Ee may find our song-lists end up being very short.

This is a tragic story, in a long list of tragic stories for many worship leaders down the years. It is tragic firstly for Mike and his family, and then for his church. But one of the worst things we can do is let events like this harden our hearts, or stop us from seeing good things in people, or stop us receiving good things from God, or wanting to tell the story of good things in our lives to encourage people in the future.

Holiday

2008-08-12T07:45:00.001+01:00

I am now off on holiday for the rest of August, and part of that will mean not spending too much time on my beloved mac, so there may not be many posts in the next few weeks.

Regular posting should recommence in early September

Off to New Wine

2008-07-30T07:31:00.003+01:00

Next week we all head off to new Wine in Sunny Shepton Mallet for New Wine (Central and South West).

Yesterday I went down to New Wine (London and South East) for a day to meet some friends and have a few meetings. I went down with Jules and Dave who will be leading worship with me next week.

Every time I turn into the Bath and West showground, memories come flooding back. Over the 12 years I have been going to new wine, I remember the great times of meeting god in worship, of seeing my children grow in faith, of times of hearing god speak to me: great times. As we chatted with a few of our friends who have been going for many years, we heard their stories of their children coming to faith whilst in the incredible kidz work, stories of their own days of youth where they encountered god and were changed and propelled to a life following Jesus. We remember how soul survivor, once the youth work of new wine, was born and grew and started to become what it is today. These memories are so so precious. And to still be involved in a small way, leading worship is still amazing.

As we left the site last night to drive back we were chatting about the week that is to come. My hope, my passionate hope, is that we will encounter god - above all that he would turn up and move amongst us, speak to us, refresh us, inspire us, heal us. In my mind, everything else is a side show.

Come Lord Jesus

Please.

Let's hand it to drummers

2008-07-23T08:50:00.003+01:00

Let's hand it to our skin bashing, metal whacking, 'are your ears bleeding yet?' friends.

As this article shows they really do burn up a huge amount of energy when they play.

Mind you, they would save a few calories if they didn't speed up the whole time.

Yes, this is the way things are going!

2008-07-21T12:48:00.003+01:00

This is music to my ears!

OK so I was caught

2008-07-20T13:15:00.001+01:00

Ok, it's confession time.

I went to starbucks today.

Despite my critisism of them in a recent post, I ended up getting my sunday morning fix from there.

It was too early for nero, and I was in the car, so rather than park and walk to soho, I stopped outside starbucks, snuck in, and got a coffee.

Rather embarrassingly they still remembered my order - grande latte extra shot extra hot.

And to make it worse I was caught 'at it' by this morning's worship team as I rolled up there.

But I am definitely right. The coffee is not really up to it any more. It was pretty tasteless. And the ginger nuts I got to go with them were too sweet and stuck to my teeth.

In fact the only thing that really lived up to expectation was the Sunday Times I picked up whilst I was there.

Who are we worshipping?

2008-07-18T19:43:00.005+01:00

Michael W Smith releases his new worship album called 'a new hallelujah'.

We are told:

Smith has scored several film projects, written 11 books and been named one of People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People. His tours consistently rank among the best attended in the country and he has performed to capacity crowds throughout the world.

Phew!

That's such a relief!

After all you wouldn't want just any old ugly bloke recording a worship album would you...

What do you mean credit crunch?

2008-07-18T13:56:00.004+01:00

In a week where we are told that heating bills are set for a 60% rise, food prices are soaring, and outrageous bank charges are once again being defended by the financial institutions, it maybe is worth remembering some figures:

HSBC profits up 10% to £12.2bn
British Gas profits up 500% to £0.6bn
Shell profits up 9% to £13.9bn
Tesco profits up 13% to £2.5bn
Number of children below the poverty line up 100,000 to 2.9million
Number of pensioners below the poverty line up 300,000 to 2.5million

It makes me think that this is not so much a credit crunch but a greed epidemic.

iTunes

2008-07-17T19:18:00.004+01:00

I remember getting my first LP. It was Making Movies by Dire Straits. I remember taking out the 12 inch disc, putting it on one of the record players with the plastic arm that came across, then lying on the floor with my ear against the speaker, reading through the artwork. A complete five-way sensation: the sound of the band, the feel of the record sleeve, the smell of the print, the sight of the artwork, and the taste of the cheap instant coffee that we used to drink those days.

Now Trinity Publishing has made it to iTunes, you can now download some of my tracks from there.

iTunes doesn't quite do it for me though. Seems to lack that rich, multi-sensory experience.

I wonder if it will catch on.

I love hillsong

2008-07-16T07:11:00.003+01:00

I love Hillsong

Well OK, maybe that’s going a little far. And certainly my affection for them is well behind my wife, my children, my family, my church, many of my friends, extra shot lattes.

Oh, and Jesus of course.

In fact, lets face it, Hillsong are probably only in the top 200 of things I love, maybe not even that.

But I’ve just started to listen to the latest hillsong dvd, and it’s awesome. I thought hillsong worship had begun to lose momentum in the last couple of years, but their latest cd ‘this is our god’ seems to recapture things.

Now I know you are probably wondering why someone as cynical about the whole worship industry as me is enthusiastic about Hillsong. Well let me explain. First and foremost is that they are being themselves. The only church that really should be doing Hillsong worship in the Hillsong way, is Hillsong. Over the years they have established their own identity in worship by having adventures, taking risks, and alongside it all, put a huge amount of money, effort, resources, and time into developing their worship. And they have pursued their calling in this despite huge critisism along the way (the level of which seems to be match only by the number of churches trying to copy them!)

And now, having pursued their own identity in worship, they are making a few quid out of it, which I suspect goes into building their church. Well I say “good on them”.

Now I know we can argue about their pentecostal theology. We could also debate about some elements of prosperity teaching. But as in many things in life, we have to see what God is doing through our own theological frameworks, and learn what we need to learn. And from hillsong I learn about passionate, heartfelt, authentic worship. I learn about worshippers who are unafraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves.

And unfortunately, I also learn that beards seem to be back in fashion in Australia.

The other thing that is hugely moving about this cd is that there is a song on it called ‘Healer’ by Mike Guglielmucci. The song was written by Mike the day he was diagnosed with serious cancer. The song is performed on the dvd by mike in the throws of his illness, having to use oxygen to get through it. It is hugely moving, and there is also a video section where he gives some of his testimony. On the DVD he stands in front of the many thousands of people gathered for the recording, with tubes in his nose, declaring that ‘by his stripes we are healed’. It an awesome song of faith from someone who is in the midst of extreme suffering.

This is a truly inspiring cd and dvd. listen to it, have your spirit lifted in worship through it.

Just don’t try and copy it.

The diary of an international worship leader aged 43 3/4

2008-07-12T13:04:00.002+01:00

DAY 5

This is the final diary entry for two reasons. Firstly, today was our last day in Swedelburgh before we get back on another Whine-air flight back to the UK. but secondly, and more significantly, I am very soon to have a birthday and so I will no longer be 43 3/4.

Tonight I led worship in the main gathering, which I loved. Fortunately the Swedleburgish people all worship just as much in English as Swedleburgese, so I didn't have to sing in a foreign language. Which is just as well really, as I tried to learn just one word in Swedleburgese before I came here, and it took me over ten minutes.

As I led the worship I could see my good friend, and that night's speaker, Brucie Blather, worshipping away. I always find it encouraging when the speaker really worships. Most speakers tend to sit down 2 minutes into the worship and start to flick though their notes, which I think is a shame because they really miss out on the anointed bits.

Mind you, I often leave for coffee after the worship rather than sit and listen to the talk, so I guess I can't really complain.

But anyway, I am always impressed by old Blather-boy. He speaks with real conviction, but without any pretentiousness or hype. With so many speakers these days you seems to get a very ordinary message wrapped up in an overly extraordinary package. But with Brucie you feel that you seem to hear a very extraordinary message delivered by a very ordinary person.

And that's strangely comforting.

After he spoke he then said that we were going to pray for some healings. He gave a few prophetic words and asked a few people to come forward. He and the team prayed whilst gently laying hands on them. And a few people got healed. But even when people got healed, which is incredible, there was still this sense that this was a very extraordinary event, happening to and through very ordinary people.

And how I need to be reminded of that.

Ordinary. That's me.

Extraordinary. That's God

I reflect on all the trappings that ministry can present to me: the status as an invited, visiting worship leader to another country; my name as songwriter at the bottom of the words on the projector; the recognition wrapped up in the royalty cheque that comes through the post every quarter; the evidence of my gifting provided by by cd on the shelves in the bookstore; the stage provided by the big conference. How easy it is to think that I am the extraordinary one.

But I'm not.

It's God who is the extraordinary one.

I'm very very ordinary.

And that's very very comforting.

The diary of an international worship leader aged 43 3/4

2008-07-09T13:18:00.008+01:00

DAY 4

The place we are staying in this week in Swedleburg is fantastic. We are sharing a family room in this wooden house, which is part of a collection of wooden houses situated on the coast. This family room contains two sets of bunk beds, the arrangement of which means that Sarah sleeps in the bunk above my wife, and Lizzy sleeps in the bunk above me. It's great to do this - we all go to bed together and wake up all together - it's a wonderful bonding experience.

This morning I was awoken by my eldest breaking wind ('good one') and then leaning over the side of the bunk and giggling at me. I decided to respond in a similar fashion, and then my other daughter joined in and soon everything got a little out of hand. I'm convinced we got a credible three part harmony at one point. Only my wife didn't join in the musical session and left to go and have a shower. I sometimes get frustrated that she doesn't fully appreciate that us international ministry types need to unwind like this sometimes.

In fact, whilst we are on the subject of showers, this being Swedleburg, the showers are communal. The Swedleburgish people are apparently far more relaxed about their ablutions than the English, and there is only one set of showers - used by both men and women - with of course the obligatory sauna attached. To save our embarrassment, though, the conference hosts have allocated certain hours for men and certain hours for women for the duration of our stay. This is fine in theory. But last night I obviously misread the time sheet and barged in on a rather round bottomed Swedleburgish lady in a state of semi undress. Fortunately I managed to exit very quickly without her seeing me (one can just imagine the headlines...). Anyway, to avoid any further possibility of unsuitable encounter, today I made do with a body wash using the sink in our family room.

Then over breakfast I had a strange conversation with my wife when she used a lot of words like self centred, egotistical, hot air and boring. I didn't quite get the drift, but anyway the outcome was that we decided that she and the girls would benefit from sacrificing another chance to hear me speak today, and they are going off on the boat for the day. So I would have to go to the morning bible reading on my own, and would also be on my own for my next seminar 'how to write anointed worship songs that change the world'.

I arrived at the seminar room to find it fuller than the day before. I was sort of quite pleased in a humble sort of way, and chatted away to the venue host trying to appear unconcerned at the greater numbers. I slipped a question into our conversation about why there were more people than yesterday. Apparently, according to him, it was because people had never seen or heard anything quite like me before and wanted to make sure the rumors were true.

I took that as a compliment.

There was obviously quite a lot of holy anticipation in the room, because as I stood up to speak I saw quite a few people nudging each other, pointing at me, whispering and giggling. It made me quite nervous, as I didn't want to disappoint them. I then talked about song writing, and how important it was that our focus should be on effecting the whole world, how exciting it is when your songs get put on those '1000 best ever worship song' cd's. I talked about my other most inspiring cd called 'the totally fresh new sound of worship volume 17', and how wonderful it was that every month there was another volume of 'the totally fresh new sound of worship' released. I also gave a theological exegeses of the CCLI top 25. Someone in room interrupted at this point and asked me if it was true that CCLI stood for 'Cash Comes in Large Installments'.

I thought that was quite harsh really.

At the end of this seminar there was no need to have any formal ministry time, as by the end of my talk people were so clearly under the influence of the holy spirit - laughing and chattering and moving around the room. So I just withdrew quietly. One lovely lady stopped me on the way out and thanked me for what was a wonderful seminar. She said that up until today she had only thought of songs as a way to connect with God, but now she realised that there was just so much more involved than that.

I'm glad I'm having such an impact on people.

The diary of an international worship leader aged 43 3/4

2008-07-03T11:43:00.006+01:00

DAY 3

Well I think that was a great first day.

We headed off to the church bright and early for the morning session. Remembering that I was doing my seminar on 'famous but humble' I made sure I was modeling what I was going to be talking about. I went up to the registration desk and said who I was in a very quiet and unassuming and self effacing manner. Clearly there is a language problem, which is understandable, as the person on the desk didn't seem to know me and couldn't find my name on her list. I told her I was a rather well known worship leader from England and then she seemed to show a spark of recognition, and she started looking down her list muttering 'Matt Redman'.

She got to the bottom of her list again and then looked back at me slightly confused. Eventually I managed to explain who I was, and she then looked slightly disappointed for some reason. Anyway, eventually she gave me a hand-written badge with 'day pass' written on it. That was slightly annoying, but again i remember my up and coming talk and walk away with a smile that hopefully looked genuine. As I walked away from the desk towards the auditorium I just heard her whispering to another person on the desk - something about being worried that people might start asking for their money back. It's just as well I am here to help because it sounds like they are struggling if people want to ask for a refund so early in the conference.

My seminar came after the first session, and I think it went really well, in a humble but life changing sort of way. I talked about the pressures of being so famous whilst trying to look unaffected and servant-hearted. This being in Swedleburg, I had a translator who translated my English into Swedleburgish. I'm not sure how good the translator was, as they all kept laughing at my most serious points, and were all strangely quiet when I told jokes. Anyway, we had a time of questions at the end, which I think went well, although I was slightly confused when one of them asked me where Matt was.

I finished my session with a time of ministry where I offered to pray for people who felt that the Lord was calling them to be famous and humble. No one actually came forward for prayer, but the Lord was clearly blessing people as many of them started laughing and hollering and rolling around on the floor, presumably in the power of the Holy Spirit. It really is amazing how God is using me on this international ministry trip.

I then went off with my family for a meal with some of the wonderful Swedelburgish people. They really are so very friendly and generous. They even offered to take my wife and children off on a boat trip tomorrow whilst I do my next seminar. I thanked them but say that my family always like to come to my seminars and listen to me talk whilst they also uphold me in prayer. Funny, at that precise moment the Holy Spirit must have fallen, because my wife's leg jerked under the table and caught me on the shin, and both my girls started to weep simultaneously.

During the evening celebration that followed, I was sitting with my family and was really blessed by the worship, even though it was in Swedleburgish. Funny how that God's presence transcends language and culture in such a beautiful way.

During the ministry time I felt that God spoke to me and encouraged me about the talk I am giving tomorrow called 'how to write anointed songs that change the world'.

It should be good.

The diary of an international worship leader aged 43 3/4

2008-07-01T16:47:00.007+01:00

Recently I've been reading the odd blog of international worship leaders, and I quite like the look of an international worship leader ministry. So I've decided to go on an international ministry trip and record my own travels.

And tomorrow I start with a trip to Swedleburg.

DAY 1

It's early in the morning and we're just about to leave for the airport. I am really looking forward to my international ministry trip to Swedleburg.

I must admit, I am slightly confused, though, as I've done a search on google and i can't seem to see any publicity about my appearances over the next week. There must be something wrong with my internet connection or something, because normally someone with an international ministry would cause quite a stir in the countries they visit. I must try and sort that out once I get back home. Any way, my flights have been pre booked for me by the conference hosts. That really helps, because someone of my reputation and standing is really too busy to get involved with such details. I've also heard so many other people with international ministries talk about how the Lord generously upgrades flights to first class, so I'm really quite hopeful of a very relaxed journey.

In the last few moments I have before we leave I ask the Lord for some specific words of knowledge for the country of Swedleburg. It really is such a huge burden and responsibility for international worship leaders, and I begin to understand how much of the spiritual health of that nation rests upon my shoulders. It's quite humbling really.

DAY 2

Well what a journey yesterday was.

We arrived at the airport to find the check in queue was huge. I tried to find the fast track desk for international worship leaders, but it seems that some member of staff must have been off ill or something so we had to join the queue with everyone else. In many ways that had hidden blessings, particularly for all the others in the queue. It must have made quite a statement about how humble I was, and they seemed really glad that someone of such fame was brushing shoulders with them. I must admit, however, that I felt a little bit of righteous anger rising up in me when I reached the check in desk and was asked to take 2 kilos out of my suitcase because it was over weight.

Of course, I then took some photos of my guitar in the airport, because it is so important to be able to communicate to people at a later stage the fine line someone like me treads between humble worship leader and famous rock star. Hopefully these pictures will be able to inspire people to be like me.

Unfortunately there was no upgrade to first class. Apparently there are no first class seats on Whine-air flights. Ah well, it is character building. It took us another hour to get through security. When our flight was called, we went through the 'priority boarding' queue, as clearly that was something an international worship leader should expect. However, the lady turned us away and said we weren't eligible for priority boarding. I did tell her that I was an international worship leader, and I think she was quite impressed as she said 'congratulations' with a sense of awe in her voice. At least I think it was awe, but I can't be quite sure. But she was unfortunately unable to let us through. This was all character building of course, and I think I will use my story when I give my talk tomorrow at the conference, a talk that I have called 'famous but humble'. I think that may help illustrate things quite well.

We arrived in Swedleburg late in the afternoon and was dumbstruck by the beauty of the country. The roads were clear, the sky was blue, the sea was clean and sparkling. And everywhere we went people were helpful and friendly. The conference hosts were generous beyond belief and we arrived in a rustic house right by the sea close to the church where the conference was held. We have a family room for me, my wife and two girls. We unpacked and walked the 20 yrds to the sea front and took in the wonderful fresh air, and outstanding views. We had a really warm feeling inside as we looked forward to the week ahead.

I chatted to my wife about the seminar 'famous but humble' that I am giving tomorrow. She confused me when she suggested that it was interesting that I was talking about things that I had no experience of. I'm not sure what she meant, and assumed that she was tired after our day's travels, and I don't want to spoil the moment.

Enough

2008-06-20T18:08:00.009+01:00

Enough is enough

I have finally swapped. Having been a dedicated starbucks drinker for the last 5 years, I have decided that I have had enough. My coffee of choice now comes from caffe nero.

I know I have previously gone on record saying that starbucks is a spiritual gift for worship leaders. But it is now with deep regret that I have to say that the anointing has lifted from all that is green and white and fallen on all that is blue gold and black.

There are a number of reasons.

The coffee tastes much better. Starbucks seems to have lost it's way in the coffee taste stakes and now regularly produces a very feeble brew, whereas nero is consistently deep, mellow and satisfying.

Then there is the coffee strength. You really have to order an extra shot at starbucks as the coffee is pretty weak. With nero, good strength coffee comes as standard.

Then there is the feel of the shop. Starbucks, despite a recent refit, is beginning to take on the feel of a fast food restaurant, is often messy and is a little dirty. I'm sure it won't be long before you'll be asked if you 'want fries with that' every time you order a cappuccino.

But nero has a nice, sophisticated, gentle atmosphere - especially first thing in the morning when the sun breaks through and warms you as you sit on your leather chair, reading the times (provided for you), watching the posh world go past down the posh street.

Then there is the price. nero is cheaper. enough said.

Then there is the way they use the caffe with the double ff to reinforce their identity as italian.

I've finally got to the stage where they now know me, and what I drink. And we have a general chat every now and then about the demise of starbucks, which is pleasing.

Yes, the future is bright. The future is blue, gold and black. And to prove it, here is me wandering down a posh street with a large latte. Nice.

Keep getting in the way Mr Baldy

2008-06-14T10:06:00.013+01:00

Have you notices how hard it is to translate what happens in an encounter with God into a permanent, credible record of the moment.

As I watch some of the events on God recently from Florida, it is hard not to laugh quite alot. Let’s face it, the worship is all out of tune The leaders come over as lunies. We see people sitting around in the chairs looking bored (sorry, taking everything in). The musicians all look confused and keep making mistakes. And as for the Bam Bam….

Having been involved in recording a few live worship albums over the years, I know the pain of hearing your extravagances (which seemed entirely right in the moment) and knowing that they will be played over and over again on the CD in people’s homes and churches for ever and ever. And then you become known for them. ‘Oh Yes, I know Neil Bennetts. He is the one who sang that weird note on How Great is Our God on the New Wine Album from 2006’.

The thing is, none of this stuff really does translate very well, and to be honest, if it got to the stage where we watched the events with the same critical appreciation as we watch an episode of 24, it will probably have been fabricated beyond recognition and have lost all it's credibility. Rather like 24 actually. But that's another story.

I was at a gathering in our church last week. We had some more baptisms and as ever I took some photos for the people getting baptised. Then as we went back to worship, I decided to keep snapping. I almost got this amazing picture of hundreds of hands in the air. I say almost because there was this guy in the foreground of the picture with a bald head which really wrecked it. I have about 20 pictures, and from which ever angle I took it from, there is baldy right in the middle, messing up the photo.

The thing I am finding at the moment, is that the questions I have over style and model with Florida is forcing me to look all the harder for what God is doing beyond the tattoos, beyond the BAMs beyond the chicken head movements. And this is a good thing for me, for us, to do.

And I have to say, that now I am far far more interested in what God is doing here in Cheltenham than anywhere else in the world. I have to have that approach. Any other will lead me to become like Alan Hansan. A great pundit, but now never kicking a ball, unable to influence the outcome of any single football match.

And how often did Jesus do the same - forcing those around him to look for God behind the strange things: spitting in a blind man’s eyes, a prostitute pouring out all her perfume, a load of pigs running off a cliff, a man dying on a cross beside thieves, a few rags left in an empty tomb.

So I say, keep getting in the way My Baldy.

A worship leader in these times

2008-06-12T07:30:00.002+01:00

As a church we have just started a series of evenings where we are pressing into God for all that he has for us here in Cheltenham. They are times when worship and praise will be foremost as we seek God’s presence. As a worship leader this means times of leading worship or singing over people for hours at a time on occasion, and will, I expect, be a regular thing for weeks ahead.

I’ve been reflecting on what things that we need to do as worship leaders during these times in order that we may be fruitful long term.

This is kingdom activity. Kingdom activity means confrontation. Lead from the front. Be a leader. Worship leaders often go out in the front of armies. It’s a time to rediscover why we are worship leaders and not just lead worshippers.

Expect there to be more of the prophetic in worship. Expect to be taken into extended times of unscripted encounter as a church. But remember this is holy spirit led - it’s not something we generate, is something we respond to. You are not trying to generate a response in people, you are helping them to encounter God.

Don’t be afraid to make some hard decision on people. There will be some people in your team who are more suited to this type of worship. Just as Sunday worship is not a case of ‘everyone gets to play’, so it is for this. Choose wisely, and explain clearly to everyone. This is not a case of some people being more valued than others, it is a case of everyone working in their area of strongest gifting.

Prepare for the prophetic. God can speak to you, give you new songs/phrases to sing before the event as well as during.

Keep physically fit. Leading worship for 2 hours at a time is not for the unfit. Keep your regular physical activity going as a priority. Watch what you eat and drink even more closely than usual. Consider yourself as an athlete preparing for a marathon, not a sprinter preparing for the 100 meters.

Keep your family on board. Keep communicating with your spouse. Keep spending time with your children. They are still more important than your ministry.

Life will be different for a season with your worship teams and fellow church leaders. Expect there to be some messiness, and some uncertainty, so that when someone does something you we’re not expecting, had not agreed to or irritates you, be extra wise and extra slow and extra thoughtful in dealing with it. Don’t let bitterness get a foothold.

Reorganise your diary if you can. There may just have to be some people you can’t see, some places you can’t go. Exercise wisdom and always communicate clearly. But - if you are paid to do a job (even in your church), remember who is paying and why they are paying.

Don’t lose sight of your need to keep investing in others. These are great times for investing in your up and coming worship leaders. Get them on stage alongside you. As always, the hungry keen to lead servant hearted worship leaders will not take your oversight as a threat. If they do, a period of off-stage reorientation may be needed.

Lead in pairs. Two hours of leading worship is tough on the voice, tough on the fingers and spiritually stretching.

Don’t big yourself up. This is a holy spirit inspired movement, not a worship leader inspired movement. Expect to write and sing new songs that won’t make the ccli top 25.

Keep grounded in the truth. Remember that huge chunks of the letters in the new testament were written to churches who were on fire for God but ungrounded in truth. Remember that the activity of the kingdom is about liberation and that it’s the truth that sets you free. Read theology, especially kingdom theology, setting what you see with your eyes in a biblical framework.

Have fun. When aunt Ethel rolls around on the floor barking like a dog, it may look quite funny. Enjoy it.

Protect the dignity of everyone.

Always try to be ready to give an account, an explanation of what is happening. It is a great thing to see a manifestation of god’s kingdom power go hand in hand with a credible voice of explanation. Check out Pentecost as an example.

HeartHeadHands Day

2008-06-04T10:07:00.003+01:00

We have just held our annual heartheadhands day for worship leaders, and I thought I would post the notes of my seminar. Here are the first two sections. The third will be in a separate post.

iNTIMACY

God created us to live intimately with Him. This intimacy was broken by the fall. Ever since then God’s story has been one of finding was that intimacy can be restored without compramising His holiness. Man’s journey has been one of attempting to respond to God’s overtures, and is typified by periods of intimacy and periods of distance.

Gathered worship is a gift to us from God to help us in that journey. The intimacy that we experience in Gathered worship echoes into the rest of our lives. Those who go for intimacy in worship tend to be those who live day-by-day close to God.

Intimacy is closeness to God, encounter with God. It was a key value of John Wimber, and New Wine, and Trinity Cheltenham. We should be presence-shaped people - people who’s lives are lived out of a place of encounter with Him.

Intimacy is at God’s invitation but our instigation. It is God’s intended state, but not our natural state. My experience is that it takes perseverance either personally or as a church to grow in it. God never doesn’t want it - what is important is the way we go for it. Draw near to God and He will draw near to You.

Intimacy is an intention of our hearts. It is not a musical style or an emotional feeling. We need to develop in our churches a culture of Intended Intimacy - whether that’s in our main celebrations, alpha, kidz church, small groups.

Intimacy does not mean irreverence. Intimacy and Reverence are two sides of the same coin. The more I draw near to God the more I am compelled to bow down before Him. The more I see what He is like, His Holiness, His sovereignty, the more I am compelled to draw near to Him. True worship should reflect both. The friendship of the lord is reserved for those who fear Him.

Intimacy as a shared experience. When we gather together for worship, we each bring our own heart cry, our own expression of God and what He is doing in our lives. Joined together in song those heart cries paint a bigger, more glorious picture of who God is. - we are singing to one another with pslams hymns and spiritual songs and spuring one another on into intimacy with God. That is something to be celebrated. It’s why we should not stop gathering together for worship.

Intimacy results in unscripted encounter. We should anticipate that. There is a journey that we head off on, and so often the destination is not revealed until we get there. We need to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and learn how he speaks to us and leads us in these times. We need to ‘pick our moments’ for unscripted worship - being sure that it is what the Holy Spirit wants rather than a default position.

iDENTITY

God is a creative God. Everyone is creative. When we explore the sounds and harmonies and colours around us, we are just doing what we were created to do. Creativity in worship is not about trying to evoke a response, but about trying to reveal the character and nature of God.

Worship around the world is very un-diverse generally. Good, but not very diverse. The reason may be that we are not seeking our own identity in worship.

Most worship leaders have an identity crisis. We try and take on the identity of other worship leaders of church streams. Other identities can help, can be a starting point, but should not replace seeking our own identity.

If we, individually as churches, spent more time seeking out our own identity in worship, generally things would become more diverse. Success in worship, all too often, is measured by how well we mimic someone else.

Generally as a church worldwide (at least in the developed world) we have become saturated in resources but thin on leadership and inspiration.

We can establish Identity through adventure. I want my daughters to spend lots of time exploring life, rather than being served up things by TV or computer games, as I think this will help them understand their own identity. Same for us in church - we are far more likely to establish our identity if we have adventures on the way.

Trinity has had many adventures - whether through different types of services, different locations, developing it’s own record label and publishing house to name a few. We are not perfect, but at least we are trying to be just what God wants us to be in worship (at considerable cost!)

Trinity Identity would tend to include - theological depth, musical richness. Our worship leaders use restrained intervention (speaking, shouting, encouraging the prophetic). We tend to think of ourselves as conductors conducting an orchestra rather than lead singers of rock bands. We are radio 2.

Same Old

2008-05-21T09:06:00.003+01:00

Same Old: as it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever.

Same old.

Same old God, doing the extraordinary, the incredible, the unfathomable. Same old God using people that we don’t think deserve it, in churches we don’t think have earned the right. Same old God, upping sticks and moving into new territory just as we have got settled. Same old God, surrounded in the mystery that only his perfect love and perfect sovereignty can explain. Same old God shouting one moment and staying silent the next, but in both breathing His life into his church and revealing more of His nature.

Same old.

In one sense we shouldn’t be surprised. God is just being God, as He always has been, and as He always will be. Unchanging.

Same old.

As I engage with what God is doing at the moment in our church, and churches across the world, there is something that I find distinctly normal. It just feels like normal church. Church as it should be. The excitement, the healings, the expectation of divine intervention, the passion for worship and song, the beautiful messiness of it all. It all feels strangely comfortable.

Over the years we have called out for this, we have hungered for this, we have in many ways waded through the treacle towards this. We have delved into the bible, gaining a theology that points towards this. So now that God appears to be moving in this incredible way the most strange, inconsistent, abnormal thing we could do is not go with it.

It’s not as though we’ve suddenly discovered a new formula, a new liturgy, a new theology. It’s just that God’s Spirit has chosen to move in this way right now. Quite why is probably explained somewhere between a response to the prayers of His people and a sovereign act of His will. But whatever the reason, I think we would have to change our theology not to ride the wave where-ever it heads off to.

These should be great times to be a worship leader too. In our times of gathered worship, there seems to be a huge passion at the moment to meet with God as we sing. I honestly think that I could sing ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ and people would go for it. (don’t worry I won’t). Throughout the course of history, a move of God seems to generate creativity, particularly in song, and so as a worship leader I know that now, more than ever, I need to be putting time aside to allow God to shape those songs in me. Even last night as I led worship at our hungry for God I began to feel like my song book was lacking, that there were things we as a church need to sing that we haven’t got the songs for yet. Bring them on.

And where will all this lead? I don’t know. But I hope that this move of God’s Spirit will lead to a renewed passion for justice, a huge influx of new believers into the church, a restructuring of the political and financial landscape, and a massive increase in mission. Just like moves of God’s Spirit have done in the past.

Same old.

On

2008-05-04T14:56:00.002+01:00

on: with respect or regard to

In a week where I been teaching, leading worship, listening to others teach, hanging out with friends who are great theologians & worship leaders & speakers, being involved in a community project ‘The Noise’ throughout Cheltenham, but mainly listening to God, I have been trying to articulate what He has been saying to me.

Thought I would share them with you. They are my own quotes, so please only blame me if they are rubbish.

On Theology: God’s generosity is greater than our theological understanding: His presence with us says more about His desire to reveal Himself to us than our ability to explain why He does.

On Experience: Our experience and our theology will come together if we keep seeking His presence and keep seeking His truth.

On Fire Tunnels: The similarities between a fire tunnel and Simpson’s Hit and Run level 4 are remarkable.

On Platforms: I probably disagree in part with everyone I share a platform with. The fact that I trust them is why I still do it.

On Generosity: Generosity doesn’t fit into a business model. One generous giver can blow our budgets to pieces. One outpouring of God’s Spirit can make our structures irrelevant in a moment. Come Lord Jesus.

On Treasure: When God asks us to treasure something, He means that we should spend it wisely and spend it all.

On Songwriting: It’s not good enough to be ‘not incorrect’ when writing a lyric.

On Mystery: Knowing that we live with the mystery of God should compel us to find out more about Him. Dive into the cloud, don’t just sit and admire it from a distance.

On Leaders: The fact that people follow you doesn’t mean you are right. It just means that you are a leader.

On Fears: My fears are an expression of my dependence on God, not of my lack of faith in Him.

On Revelation: What God doesn’t do reveals as much of his nature as what he does do.

On Gifting: Never assume that the person who operates in gifting most effectively is the best one to teach about that gifting.

On Being Impressed: The sight of a few hundred local church people involved in community projects this weekend was strangely more impressive, and definitely more humbling, than 2000 leaders gathering for a conference during the week.

On Faith: A sick person who allows their dwindling life to be lighted up by the Hope that is Jesus Christ exercises a very deep faith.

On Bible verses: There are 31,103 verses in the bible. Read each one in the context of the other 31,102.

Carlsberg

2008-04-30T18:07:00.005+01:00

Bear with me just for a moment.

I want to yield to one of the things I intensely hate about the blogs of worship leaders: I want to start this article with the phrase ‘I have just come back from a conference and….’.

I know it’s unforgivable, but I just can’t see any other way of introducing this blog post. So please, try and indulge me this time, and I promise not to use the phrase again ever. Well at least until June when I go to the next one….

Anyway…

I have just come back from a conference, and during one of the sessions, I was reminded of what is probably the most beautiful sound in the world. Voices spontaneously worshiping God. In this case, some 2000 voices. (Of course, this last comment is also mandatory worship-leader-blog fodder, because it gives an indication of how big the conference was, and so just how important and famous and anointed I must be to have been there).

It had been a strange conference in many ways - one in which my theology had been tested and my mind stretched. Lots of things I need to think about. And some I don't think I will think about too much! But on this last night I was leading worship with my great friend Eoghan Heaslip. The band played really well, and the congregation were really ‘up’ for worship. It was quite easy in one sense.

But I have to admit that it was long after Eoghan and I had left the stage that this beautiful moment occurred. It was nearing the end of the ministry time that the speaker/leader struck up a very simple note, and encouraged the 2000 voices to sing out. And boy did they. And it went on for what seemed like ages. Amazing harmonies, rising waves of colourful heart cries, all meshing together in a Holy Spirit sustained cacophony of sound, where any imperfections in individual voices somehow offset themselves and created this wonderful, glorious symphony of worship.

And it all happened without a band.

Rats.

So I am not indispensable then.

OK, so this wasn’t church. It wasn’t even close. For a start it was in this amazing conference centre where the acoustics were great - were you could really hear the combined voices around you without them disappearing into the vaulted ceiling of some cathedralesque monstrosity that most Anglican churches seem to be like. And the conference was made up of people who had paid good money to be there, who were church leaders and so understood (at least in part I hope) what makes good worship. And it was the final evening, so everyone had gained momentum. And of course we had all left our children at home with our parents, friends, baby sitters etc. And of course there were so many of us.

Nothing like real church.

But still this was a beautiful moment, one to be cherished, one that illustrates a lot of what worship should be. Holy Spirit inspired and sustained; no individual or band or worship leader playing any more than a bit-part role. And of course nothing going on that would generate a song royalty.

What a beautiful sound it was. One that will stay with me for a very long time.

In fact, I recon that if Carlsberg made worship, then...

Indian Food

2008-04-13T18:04:00.003+01:00

This week I’m taking some time out with the family. We’re staying in a lovely cottage in the town of Beer in Devon. The cottage is owned by some friends of ours and we’ve been here a number of times. We love the tranquility, the open fire, the views of this charming fishing villiage, the deli and the beech. And joy upon joy, this year an Indian restaurant has opened just 100 yards from the cottage - just opposite the Italian and the fish and chip shop. And another great addition is a coffee shop that sells great take away coffees. Everything you could dream of all so close by. I am in heaven. I told my wife that I would like to buy a house here. She wasn’t overly impressed, but my negotiation skills are legendary, so watch this space.

Anyway, as I have has a little time to reflect on life so far, there are a number of things that have come into my thoughts again and again.

The first is that I need to get fitter. I have put a few pounds on over the last few months and I can tell. I am huffing and puffing too much, and my trousers are feeling slightly too tight around the waist. As I look at my diary over the next six months, I don’t think I will be able to do what I have to do well if I’m not in better shape. The usual stuff at Trinity, which still gets the vast amount of my energies, is challenging enough: but on top of that over the coming months I have: a couple of trips abroad - New Wine in Sweden and a Mission camp in India; leading worship at a couple of conferences; half a dozen talks; a couple of worship team training days; a women’s conference (!!); another racecourse celebration; and of course New Wine in Shepton Mallet. The thing is that I know I need to be physically up to it, as well as spiritually up to it. It means when I get back from this holiday I will need to be on strict food rations, and down the gym at least three times a week. My aim is losing half a stone. I’ll let you know how I get on.

Another thing that I have had to learn recently is that I need far more time on my own, preparing for all that I do. The office is no good, because it’s too busy. Home is no good because it’s too noisy. I have now found the perfect spot in Cheltenham where I can run off to most mornings. It’s a great coffee shop. And it’s not Starbucks! It’s very quiet until around 10.30 in the morning so I head off there for the first couple of hours of my day. I know that I need to keep that commitment up for my own sanity. The old saying that you can’t give out unless you first take in is true. And actually I am an activist (workaholic, some people call it) so find this sort of discipline hard. OK so the coffee helps, but I have resolved to more regular preparation time.

Another thing I have been reflecting on is the whole area of legacy. I had a great hour with a friend of mine from the States - Andy Booth. He was passing through on his way to lead worship at Spring Harvest in Skegness. He is someone who I have a lot of time for - he is a great worship leader, and leads regularly at Spring Harvest, but you never feel anything goes to his head. He is humble and thoughtful and God-centered. He even manages to report on his travels on his blog without giving you the feeling that he’s bigging himself up. Check out his blog - it's www.gadjesty.blogspot.com. Anyway, he said a number of things that I found personally very encouraging. One of those was about legacy: what our own legacy in the kingdom is. He was encouraging about some of the worship leaders that have emerged from Cheltenham and gone on to be people who raised up others themselves. We talked about how one of the great tests of legacy is how those you invest in go on to invest in others. It’s as though the greatest fruit is in the generation after the next! I guess in the same way is that one of the ways that my parenting skills will be judged is not just about how my children turn out, but how they in turn raise their own children.

So there you are. Three thoughts for the week.

Must go now. The smell of Indian Food is wafting up the street and I have 6 days to go before I have to start my diet.

promotion

2008-04-10T20:17:00.005+01:00

promotion: advancement in rank or position, furtherance, something devised to publicize or advertise a product, cause, institution,

Ok, so admit it. How many of you have typed your name into google to see how often you get a mention?

I did it.

And I got 1,680 entries.

My 1680 entries are, unsurprisingly, far less than the 31,900,000 for Jesus Christ, but, rather pleasingly, significantly more than the 302 for the rev Mark Bailey. Rather disappointingly there are 2,040 entries for Keith Hitchman, but I think there must be another person with the same name as my friend and co-pastor, unless he is living a secret second-life as the chairman of the Snake Lane allotments committee in Feltham near Staines.

In the good old days it was very hard to get press coverage. You either had to be very rich to buy some advertising space in the newspapers or on television. Or you had to be truly news-worthy and attract the attention of reporters or publishers. OK, you could stand on the street corner and shout loudly, but that had limited market penetration. But these days, with the world wide web, you only need a few minutes, and a laptop (preferably a mac of course) and off you go. In fact, it has never been easier than it is now to promote yourself.

The very clever, also know how to manipulate their websites and blogs so they get to the top of a google search. (How do they do that? I mean I can’t even get my blog to appear in the results of a google search - even if i type in the blog name and my name in the search engine box - and let’s face it, if i know that then why would i need to google it anyway…)

The concept of promotion is not a completely unknown in the bible. Joseph got promoted, and so did Shadrach Michach and Abednigo. These were promotions in the workplace, the context of which we are probably familiar and understand. And that’s no bad thing. I used to celebrate the times that I got promoted in my days in the insurance industry. And even in the church ‘workplace’ there are promotions where people rise to levels of increased responsibility and influence within the church community. I understand that this has to happen. And I also realise that in the Christian marketplace there needs to be a way of providing information about products so that people can make informed decisions as to what they buy. I do understand.

But just recently I have found myself being very very disappointed as I look at various blogs and web-sites of worship leaders and see the level of self-promotion that is going on.

Very probably, much of it is unintentional. Some may even be a misguided attempt to celebrate what God is doing in their lives. But generally, I read most of this stuff and my heart just sinks. As a breed, we worship leaders are far, far too concerned with making public our own influence, our own impact on the Kingdom than we should be. And we are far too unconcerned with the way that our self-promotion - intentional or not - is robbing the King of His glory.

Call me old fashioned, but what possible benefit is there in having a worship leader tell me on their blog how many people are being blessed by their songs in countries around the world, or how well their album is selling, or what award they have recently been given, or how many people attended their latest 'concert', or even how much of their future royalties they are giving up to the poor.

I would say that I’m totally “not bothered”.

But actually I am.

Very bothered.

Because we’ve all got so much to lose.

And one sure fire way of losing something in the Kingdom is to put out a hand and grab some glory for ourselves.

So, in the immortal words of Blackadder in the 'concert party' episode: please please stop.

lifeblood

2008-04-01T10:53:00.000+01:00

lifeblood - life-giving, vital, or animating element

Creativity is the lifeblood of progress.

Creativity is the first-fruit of redemption: when a soul becomes born again, it aligns itself with the most potent, far-reaching creative person in the universe.

Creativity precedes consensus: it steps out in advance of the comfortable masses, forging a way through mediocrity, building a pathway that will one day become the norm.

Creativity flies in the face of traditional business models and measures of profit: it confounds their wisdom and redraws their landscapes.

Creativity took the Sovereign King to the cross and opened up a way to the Father.

Creativity releases potential: it allows us to breath, inspires us to run, propels us to flight.

Creativity is the perfect antidote to criticism, defying the insecurities of the world that surround it.

Creativity demands commitment: it engages the will and the purse in the pursuit of it’s objectives.

Creativity is light, revealing the nature of God to the world: it is the light that shines light on The Light.

Creativity expunges toxins that left untreated, lead to death: it renews, reforms, refreshes.

Creativity is the fuel of the dreamer: it paints in colours never seen before, carves out textures never felt before, produces harmonies never heard before.

Creativity is risk that flows out of hope: it says ‘things don’t have to be this way’.

Creativity is the lifeblood of progress.

Leading Worship COE style - Preparation

2008-03-19T13:29:00.006Z

preparation: any proceeding, experience, or the like considered as a mode of preparing for the future

Ok, so all you worship leaders out there, be honest with me, be really honest this time.

How much time do you spend preparing to lead worship?

Because, let’s face it, the more we do this worship leading thing, the more we get pretty sick and tired of choosing songs. We all look down our song list and our hearts sink. there just seems to be nothing new, nothing fresh, nothing that really grabs us.

Then you try and think through new ways of playing those songs, and we maybe start to see a glimmer of creative hope. But then you realise that your drummer, Hit-Spray Simon, only knows one rhythm - 4/4 - and he plays exactly the same rhythm for every song, even the 6/8 songs, and when that doesn’t work he looks at you and scowles like it’s your fault, moans about the quality of his foldback, and then tries to cover up his inadequacies with the drum fill from hell. Finally he always speeds up so that even though the song started out as ‘purify my heart’ it ends up more like ‘the happy song’.

And so in the midst of your preparation, you start to feel a bit more depressed.

And then you remember the bass player, One-Note Nigel, who should be playing with you that week. I say ‘should’ because you are never sure if he’ll turn up, and even if he does he will always be four minutes late. To the dot. And you know that when he comes in he’ll be wearing that tee-shirt that says ‘bass players don’t need music’ and wearing that silly beenie. And then of course you’ll have to have that conversation about why tuning the bass is really quite important after all. And you long for him to smile, but know it will never happen as it’s a genetic malfunction that requires surgury, deep prayer ministry, or in the last resort, death, to rectify,

And the clouds descend.

Then you remember your electric guitarist, Thrasher Thomas, only has one volume - ear bleed - and also has that common electric guitarist syndrome - noisy-jack-lead-itus. The combination of the ear-bleed volume and the noisy-jack-lead last week caused Auntie Phylls and Great-grandmother Silvia to convulse, and the amp to blow. Although the blown amp didn’t seem to worry the guitarist who just turned up the volume and now calls the sound it produces as ‘quite grungy’.

And your shoulders slump.

Then of course there is your keyboard player, Bumble Hands Harry, who has twenty fingers. At least you think so given the number of notes he seems to be able to press all at once, covering the entire frequency range with one swoop. And then there’s that rack of sound modules that seems to try an emulate the national philharmonic orchestra, whale music, and the Irish international pan pipers all at once. And of course, even if all of these are turned off, there will always be the continual, never ending, drone of the special ‘worship pad’ that is used with astounding regularity because the keyboardist thinks it actually generates the anointing of the Holy Spirit in the services.

And if things couldn’t get any worse.

You remember which Pastor it is leading the service with you. Mr Warble-Voice. He thinks he has the gift of prophetic singing and regularly gets up to the mike in times of worship and presents his most recent offering. The said pastor keeps telling you that ‘God has given him a song’, and all you end up concluding is that ‘God only gave him that song because God didn’t want it himself’.

Then just as you are about to get started on that song list again you remember who is on the sound desk: yes it’s Feedback Fred. Feedback Fred has two main inadequacies when it comes to mixing the sound. First, he doesn’t know how to mix. And second he doesn’t understand sound. So you know that this service the congregation will have to go through the entire morning with a sound mix consisting of one of the floor toms combined with the low hum of feedback from the backing vocalists. Nothing else. Just floor tom and feedback. All the way through. Still, at least the one glimmer of hope is that it will mean that no one will be able to hear Mr Warble Voice.

Your preparation is ruined.

‘Leading Worship C of E style’ recommends a significant amount of preparation for worship. But what is the best preparation that any of us can do?

And in my mind it’s this: preparation that increases our ability to hear the voice of God; preparation that tenders our hearts to sense the presence of God; preparation that fires our souls to worship God. You see as I look around the modern church and modern worship scene at the moment I see many many people who are very good at what they do. They know the chords, they know the rhythms, they’ve got the beats. But what I think the church is crying out for is not so much people who are very good at what they do, but people who allow God to do what he is very good at doing. And so any preparation that increases our dependence on God is probably preparation well spent.

And actually, Hit-Spray Simon, One-Note Nigel, Thrasher Thomas, Bumble-Hands Harry, Mr Warble Voice, and Feedback Fred may well need to work harder, and pursue excellence in their ministry. But if, through all of that, the voice of God is lost, then they will have failed. Miserably.

Because excellence at the cost of encounter is pure folly.

[all these characters are entirely fictional and any similarity to any worship team member I have worked with, present or past is purely co-incidental. Except Hit-Spray Simon. He is real]

Leading Worship COE style: Liturgy

2008-03-15T12:50:00.005Z

I have a couple of things in common with the Bishop of Gloucester (who wrote the note that I have called ‘leading worship CofE style’). One of those is that we both belong to the Church of England, and have pursued a calling within that church which has taken a huge amount of commitment and service and devotion to duty. OK so he’s ended up with the bigger house and sexier job title, but I’m in no way bitter about that.

The other thing we both have in common is that we are both liturgists.

Yes really.

I am a self confessed, card carrying liturgust. I have the T shirt, the DVD, the car sticker, I am part of the facebook group. Everything.

I am a liturgist because I write songs for people to sing in church.

And I recon the type of liturgy writing that I am involved with is probably the fasted growing, increasingly influential liturgy in the modern day church today. Far more influential than anything that is in the Anglican prayer book or book of common worship. You don’t believe me? Well, if you ask most worship leaders these days to recite the ‘prayer of humble access’ they will look at you as though you need counselling. Ask them to play ‘heart of worship’ by Matt Redman and they will be able to sing and play it word and note perfect, in the right key, with all the same arrangements and dynamics as any other worship leader in virtually any other country in the world.

Ok so my songs aren’t quite as influential as Matt Redman’s. But then his are pretty good.

But it does lead me to ask this question: what makes good liturgy?

Well let me suggest a few things.

Good liturgy has it’s inspiration in the work of the Holy Spirit, who is always looking to glorify God. He is a creative Spirit and a sign of His activity is in the newness of the things He creates though His people. When liturgy isn’t inspired and anointed by the Holy Spirit, however technically good it is, it will not be full of life and will tend to point to people or things other than the One it is meant to point towards.

Our churches and songbooks are full of liturgy that shouldn’t be there because they were born of man and not the Spirit. One worship leader friend recounts the time when a songwriter came up to him, played some dreadful worship song that he had written, and then declared ‘God has given me this song’. My worship leader friend says how he had this thought: ‘well, if God gave that to you, it was probably because he didn’t want it!’ Yet another time, a songwriter came and played him a song and said, with a hint of false humility ‘it’s not me that wrote this song, but God’. My friend said that his initial reaction was ‘well it’s not that good!’

Joking aside, though, it is very probably true that too much of our liturgy has a little too much of the inspiration of man in it, and probably not enough of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in it. ‘Good and clever’ just doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to liturgy. In fact ‘good and clever’ on it’s own is probably more annoying than anointed.

Good liturgy is full of truth. It draws together the truth of God’s gloriousness and the mystery that surrounds Him and entwines itself around the heart of the worshipper, compelling it to praise. Like it or not, liturgy sinks deep into people’s hearts and stays there, stoking passions and driving activity. That’s why any writer of liturgy needs a strong theological framework and preferably a few other theological brains around them to check things out.

Good liturgy gathers a whole bunch of people and voices and hearts into an expression of unity. And as the church recites it’s liturgy it finds a common ground and declares to God and to any human ear that is listening that it is better off being together than apart.

Good liturgy serves the church and it’s mission, packaging the things of God into a form that the world can relate to. It can't sit outside culture, it has to be part of it. Once our liturgy has ceased to be accessible to the outsider, it needs to be revisited, refreshed, enlivened, or discarded. Liturgy is never sacred.

But above all.

Way above all.

Liturgy should sweep up the worshipper into an encounter with God, and then should fade away into the background as a truly divine exchange unravels. Heart to Heart. Deep to Deep. Because the real feast begins where the liturgy ends.

Leading Worship COE style

2008-03-10T19:02:00.002Z

I was given a copy of a note that has been circulated by the Bishop of Gloucester to all the clergy in this diocese. It was entitled 'Leading Worship'. I found it really interesting, and thought it was worth sharing. Of course you need to get into more traditional anglican mode, which is of a vicar, with an organist playing the hymns (maybe now and then with a music group playing some songs).

I think it may be worth looking at some of this again in future posts?

1. What is the task of the leader in worship?
- to work with the Spirit to bring the worshippers through Christ to the Father.
- to draw the liturgy into unity and the congregation into community
- to ensure that there is a sense of welcome and inclusion
- to be sensitive to those who may be lost, confused or on the margin

2. What is required of the leader of worship?
- prayerfulness
- openness
- a handful of confidence and a pinch of reticence- but just sometimes a pinch of confidence and a handful of reticence
- preparation - including familiarity with the text
- being at ease in one's body
- serious intent - a desire to draw into the mystery of God
- sensitive antennae
- warmth, joy, more warmth, more joy
- love of the Lord and love of liturgy

3. Some first questions early in preparation
- for whom is this service principally intended
- what is the nature of this community
- in what season is it set
- what is it's particular emphasis or theme?
- how long should it be
- how confident will the congregation be about it's worship
- does it need high or low profile leadership

4. Some questions as the service order comes together
- does this service feel like a joyful celebration of the people of God
- will the service have a sense of wonder and reverence
- what will be the balance between my leadership and the input of others and between what an individual speaks and what the congregation says, sings or does
- will the elements of penetence, intercession, thanksgiving and praise be present
- will the gospel of Christ be proclaimed
- what will be the teaching element in the service
- what expression will there be of welcome and of fellowship

5. Some final questions
- are there any 'stage directions' i need to have given
- will questions about standing, kneeling, sitting be clear
- are there any questions about visibility, furnishings, sound that need attention
- where do I need to stand! and to sit
- will my one-liners help draw the worship together or destroy the flow?
- have I allowed time to pray before people arrive and to stand at the door and greet people before we begin

6. A rogue question
-how much of this applies in a very informal service, perhaps not even in a church

input - big

2008-02-23T10:33:00.006Z

big: of major concern, importance, gravity, or the like

I was having coffee with a friend recently who has just moved to Cheltenham having previously been on the staff of a church in London. He said that his boss at that church had, during one particular discussion on the way forward on something, had once said to him: “Yes, I do believe in democracy in all of this. I am convinced about the one man one vote philosophy. And I have to tell you, that I am that one man, and I have that one vote.’

And I have to say that something resonates with me on this. It is far far easier to work with people who just do what you say all the time and don’t complain. You may remember me saying this before, but in my last job in the Insurance industry I was given the nickname ‘the bulldozer’ by some of my colleagues. Maybe not the best recommendation on my people skills, but one I was kind of proud of in a sad sort of way! Of course, I mean, I like the creative process and the brainstorm as much as the next man, but at the end of the day, I very quickly want to move from discussion to decision, and often my natural instinct is to say to my team: ‘look: the deal is this - you do what I say and I will still pay your salary.’

Some people tell me it’s not the best way to win friends and influence people.

But now you know what I’m really like. Deep down.

There is a point in bearing my soul in this way, though.

And the point is this.

How do you raise up big leaders - leaders who will do big and significant things in the kingdom - without losing any sense of unity and direction and purpose and vision?

And I would like to suggest a few things that I have found important in the team I work with. Not that in any way I have been great at this, but they are my thoughts!

The heart of it

Volunteer or paid staff, young or old, experienced or rooky, the first thing is always character. Choices about leaders rest on this probably more than anything. Good character underpins trust, which is vital if you are going to be able to release big bits of stuff to other leaders. Good character results in an otherliness that promotes unity rather than self-promotion that tends to be divisive. And the bigger the responsibilities, the greater the strength of character required. Almost without fail, significant character issues come back to bite you.

I have the teeth marks.

The big and the small of it

I remember one of my worship pastor friends asking one of his younger worship leaders to help put chairs out for a meeting once, only to get the younger worship leader square up to him and say ‘I don’t do chairs!!’. I remember hearing another story where a pastor in a large church stuck his head out of his office and called into the open-plan section outside his door ‘anyone making me a cup of tea then?’ He tells me how he was marched up to the office kitchen and ‘encouraged’ to make the whole of the rest of the office tea himself!

Big leaders seem to take on the small things with as much enthusiasm as the big things. My boss expects me to lead worship at new wine for 4000 people and also expects me to turn up on a Saturday morning to turn the pa on for the Trinity Women’s event.

And to smile through both (which, actually I do!).

So when we look for people who could take on big responsibilities, I think we need to look for those who are happy to do the chairs and make the tea.

And smile a lot.

Running with it

In my mind, there is a big difference between ownership and freedom when it comes to responsibilities. I think it’s far easier to release things to people if they know what their boundaries are, and can operate effectively within them. So often you hear people say things like ‘I can’t own this unless I have freedom to do exactly what I want’. Unfortunately, where you operate within a team of any nature, complete freedom is never an option. Or to coin a phrase of a well known TV advert at the moment ‘It doesn’t work like that’.

Just do it

Sometimes in ministry you have to be able to say to people ‘Just do it’. Sometimes things just can’t be fully explained or justified - sometimes because of confidentiality, sometimes because of time, sometimes because of wider pastoral or leadership considerations. It’s not the norm, but sometimes you need to be able call on your equity with people and ask them to ‘Just do it’.

Occasionally I have to say to younger worship leaders - actually, just change that song, just use that person in your band, just turn up at that prayer meeting and lead. It is such a huge relief when they just say ‘ok then’. One guiding principle in my role is this: I choose to be uncomplicated. It maybe that my Pastor wants a particular song, or wants to intervene in a dispute between staff members. My choice is to be uncomplicated. Doesn’t mean I don’t share my views! It just means that now and then, I choose just to do it. I choose to accept that occasionally the deal is 'You do what I say and I will still pay your salary!'

So input number 5: people who understand the heart of it, people who appreciate the big and the small of it, people who run with it, and occasionally people who are happy just do it.

input - rejoicing in the success of others

2008-02-16T12:08:00.002Z

This is an article I wrote some time ago, but in our current look into the way we can invest in others, it seemed the right moment to give it a new airing!

One Christmas I went and watched my daughter take part in her school’s nativity play. She was playing the lesser-known character from the biblical text of ‘snatcher the thief’! It was a proud moment to watch my daughter act well, remember her lines, and get laughs in all the right places. Right at the end for the big final song, she found herself at the front of stage, lights on her, cameras flashing, singing her heart out. It was fantastic. I’ve even got it all on home video.

I’ve been reflecting a little bit on what it means to truly rejoice in the success of others. And as I remember that Christmas play, and watch the video, I realise that as her father, I was desperate for her to succeed - it was natural. And when it all went right, as it did this time, it was easy to rejoice in that success. But equally I realise that this is not naturally the way of the world. When I worked in the finance industry some years ago it seemed that success seemed more reliant on making sure other people failed as individuals crept up the corporate ladder. Even, dare I say it, in Christian ministry there can be an unhealthy competitiveness, if not outright jealousy when others do well. Worship leaders (and i speak as one!) can be the worse, especially now so much of the worship industry has a commercial aspect to it.

When I started heading up the worship ministry for New Wine, I sensed that I should be using the platform I had been given to raise up other leaders - and I vowed to the Lord that I would! I remember the very next year giving a young worship leader a chance to lead for a week. And I have to say he did very, very well. In fact I remember being on the font row as he lead worship thinking - ‘I thought it would be good, but i didn’t think it would be this good’. And in some ways, I was struggling a little with it - the worship was going so well, and I was not leading it!. And God spoke to me in that moment - it was as though he said ‘If you mean what you say about raising others up, this is what it will feel like’.

There’s that time when David had slain Goliath, and as he and Saul and the army travelled back, the people of Israel were chanting ‘Saul kills in his thousands, but David kills in his ten thousands’. And we see how badly Saul reacted to that - he couldn’t cope with the new guy doing well and getting so much adulation. And this reminded me a little of how I had reacted that evening at New Wine. And I also recall how I very quickly got to the stage where I realised that I didn’t want to feel the way I did. And in fact that the words the God spoke to me that time were more of a challenge to sort it out rather than a life sentence to feeling rubbish every time someone else succeeded! And so I’ve done a little work trying to articulate what I think we need to grow in if we are to be people who truly rejoice in the success of those we are raising up.

Wisdom

Comparing Saul and David, we get some idea of the root of wisdom. When things started to look like they were going pear-shaped for Saul, he started to take things into his own hands (1 Sam 13). When things got tough for David, he looked to God (1 Sam 17). As someone once said ‘A person who approached each decision with a trust in God, and acknowledges Him rather than lean on his own understanding, is wise.

If we are to see others succeed, and rejoice in that, we need incredible wisdom in choice of person. It is actually quite easy to put people on a platform. It’s actually quite hard to get the right person. Putting the wrong person on a platform, how ever well intentioned, is not a wise thing. Putting someone up on a big platform at the wrong time, could destroy them if things go badly. In my role here at Trinity, despite being the worship pastor for 11 years, I have only really invested significantly in 5 or 6 other worship leaders: I have seen potentially hundreds of hopefuls though! We need huge amounts of wisdom in who we invest in.

Generosity

We need to develop a generous attitude. Some time ago I read a book by Gordan McDonald called ‘secrets of the generous life’ and it’s really been a huge challenge to me. If I am to see others succeed, I need to be generous, not only with my time, my affection and praise or my money, but in giving them the great places to serve and work where they have chance of success.

Loyalty

Loyalty is not an ‘in thing’ these days, except maybe in terms of financial loyalty through store cards and the like. But relational loyalty is often hard to come by these days. As I reflected on my own journey in ministry, I realise in many ways I am the product of the loyalty of others around me. Much of my success is down to people with the guts to stand by me, especially when things go wrong, and i’ve made bad decisions.

Now of course, or first loyalty is to the Lord, and I’m not saying we need to blindly follow others and never disagree. But actually, I think we are all too ready to disown people when things go a little astray, rather than stay loyal. As someone who has had experience of people laying into me when things have seemed hard (a long time ago!) and experience of people being loyal when things are tough - I know first hand how important this has been. As people intent on raising others up, we should be intent on standing by them through thick and thin!

Bounce-back-ability

This probably isn’t a proper word, but it should be. What I mean by this, is the ability to get back up, after falling flat on your face, and start again.

An invitation to invest in the success of others is an invitation to fail. There will be times when those you choose let you down, sometimes very very badly. Look at Samuel. He put a lot of effort into Saul. But Saul let him down. And Samuel grieved long and hard (1 Sam 15). BUt God said to him ‘How long are you going to mope over Saul. Fill your flask with anointing oil and get going’.

Here is the call to leadership: fill your flask with anointing oil and get going. There will be times when others - even those who we invest hugely in - let us down. The key to leadership is getting back up and starting again. Or as Churchill put it: ‘leadership is about moving from one failure to the next without loosing enthusiasm.’

Wisdom, Generosity, Loyalty and Bouncebackability. Four things we need to grow in if we are to truly see others succeed, and for us to rejoice in it.

input: mr grumpy

2008-02-13T10:58:00.003Z

grumpy: surly or ill-tempered; discontentedly or sullenly irritable; grouchy

I recon that on my death bed, one of the things I would most regret about life would be if I hadn’t had a whole bucket load of fun along the way. And even now, if I could re-write bits of my worship leading journey, the thing I would put in the script would be a whole lot of laughter.

You will know by now that from time to time, my team call me Mr grumpy. And let’s face it, I can be very grumpy from time to time. And even as I write this, I feel a little convicted about my miserableness. Whether it’s because my three shot latte isn’t quite hot enough, or that my pannini was only cooked for the standard three minutes rather than the four minutes that I prefer. I get especially grumpy when my in-ear monitors don’t work properly, (Although let’s face it, in-ear monitors are designed specifically to not work properly), and I get grumpy when my bass player turns up the usual 4 minutes late on a Sunday morning (what is it about bass players that they are always 4 minutes late. to the second!).

Every so often our church makes the local press. Especially at things like the carol service. And I have noticed that there is never a picture of me in the paper. It’s always someone like Melody Ball or Hitchman or Bailey. And that really annoys me. I do all the hard work and slog my guts out for months then right at the end, Hitchman or Bailey turn up and steal the glory. It’s so hurtful.

But maybe it’s because I just look to miserable.

I have now spotted this permanent little groove on my face between my eyes that I recon isn’t a laughter line, but a grumpiness line. How sad.

And I know the effect that grumpiness in others has on me. The thing that causes me most sleepless nights: winging and critical emails. The thing that causes me to want to avoid coming into the office each day: the possibility that I may have to have a conversation with a grumpy person. The thing that drains the life out of me the most: the miserable egit who can always see the problem in what I do.

Barry Kissell is a great friend of our church, and recently he talked about the fact that he didn’t have new year’s resolutions, but new year’s intentions. So here is one of mine: to have as much fun as possible without breaking the ten commandments.

And when I look back at some of the most enjoyable and fruitful times in my worship leading journey, they seem to have come when I have had a bunch of happy smiling faces around me. I look back to New Wine when I have had Melody, Laura, Jules and Nae (the original ‘diamonds’) and Jake and Kev and Stu and Pete and Dave playing with me. It was awesome fun. I think about the time that our team of pastors here at Trinity go for our bi-weekly ‘pastors meeting’ at a little local Italian and share dodgy jokes or take the rise out of Hitchman. I think about the times that at worship team practice we abandon our instruments and plug in ‘guitar heros 2’ onto the big video screens in church.

The people that seem to sustain me in ministry (apart from Jesus of course) seem to be the fun people, the people that bring laughter, the people who smile. So one of the things I would encourage others to do is seek out people who inject fun into their lives and ministry. Learn to laugh at others and yourself without getting insecure. And maybe when that grumpy person starts to head towards you on the street in town - why not just cross over and walk by on the other side.

Certainly this is definitely my intention:

No more Mr Grumpy.

input - leadership

2008-02-09T15:46:00.000Z

We are all on a journey. And the most important thing for all of us is that journey is headed towards God and the things of God.

Having been leading worship for 25 years or so, and see many others give up on, or fall away from ministry, I truly know that it is by the grace of God that I am still standing. And also I know that in many ways, my own personal journey towards God and the things of His heart will never end: I have so far yet to go.

When I started out, though, I don’t think I ever really appreciated how much of my ministry would be about leadership. I sort of assumed that I could stroll up Sunday by Sunday, plug my guitar in, and head off in worship. As long as I continued to play well, write good songs, sing sort of in tune, and roughly hold a band together musically, then all would be well! But it seems that over time, I am having to make bigger and bigger decisions, bring together and envision more and more people, manage large and larger budgets, communicate with a wider and more diverse bunch of leaders, and maintain focus amidst an ever increasing spectrum of views and opinions.

So much for just playing a few chords then.

And as anyone knows, leadership involves making hard decisions, and from time to time, upsetting people. And this brings about a huge dilemma. Because as a worship leader I naturally want to be everyone’s friend. I want to try and make sure that I don’t do anything that would make one of my congregation think ‘this guy really hacked me off so there’s no way he’s gonna lead me in worship today!’ It’s sort of expected that a pastor will upset people some of the time through the decision they make. But not a worship leader. That just isn’t done!

To me, it feels like I have to tread a very fine line. It can be totally challenging. And as I bumble on from mistake to mistake, I do sometimes wonder that, if someone had told me all of this earlier I may have had a smoother ride.

And then of course, once you recognise that you are a leader, you also then realise that God sets the bar very high in terms of acceptable lifestyle and acceptable behaviour. (1 Tim 3). In one sense the bar is high for anyone. But for the leader, who is very visible and subject to ever increasing scrutiny, failure to meet such standards have greater implications and consequences. Mistakes are amplified. Unfortunately you can’t avoid that. So the bar is high for good reason: God want to protect the honour of His name and the integrity of His church. Leaders need to be well thought of, not pushy, not money hungry, not conceited, not in it for what they can get out of it. Oh how important for worship leaders!

In these 25 years of leading worship, I have seen many worship leaders, some of them friends, fall away from ministry. It is tragic. In one sense, their stories are repeated day by day in the lives of many many people who love and serve God but which go virtually unnoticed beyond their own circles. Yet for the leader, their position and profile unfortunately means that the impact of their failure is often far far greater reaching than the failure itself would seem to merit. Mistakes are amplified.

But these instructions in 1 Timothy are more than instructions to protect us from downfall, they are exhortation to inspire us to do greater things for the kingdom. If we are well thought of, we will hopefully not only have measures in place that protects our integrity, we will also hopefully have equity with people that increases our capacity to take risks. If we are not pushy, we will hopefully not only have a gentle character that will uphold the dignity of others, but also hopefully increase our ability to make wise decisions. If we are not money hungry, we will hopefully not only lessen our tendency to use finances inappropriately, but also increase our sense of kingdom values. If we are not conceited then not only do we hopefully reduce the chance that we will pursue our own status, but that we will be able to rejoice more in the success of others under our leadership. And if we are not in things for what we can get out of it, then hopefully we will not only reduce the chance that we will give up when that recognition doesn’t come, but also hopefully be fired up to run the race with conviction and finish well.

So my second influence is this: understanding more what it means to be in leadership

input - the edge

2008-02-02T15:35:00.000Z

the edge: the thin, sharp side of the blade of a cutting instrument

When I was in my early twenties I used to go hill walking alot. I’ve still got the same pair of walking boots I bought 20 years ago. They were quite pricey, but it just proves one of my theories in life : that it’s better to go for quality as it saves money in the long term. It’s why I have a Mac. Interestingly, having insisted on Mac’s for my creative team at church amongst a huge amount of cynicism, slowly, as more and more people get frustrated with slow, crashing, uninspiring pc’s are now seeing the sense in my ways. Mark Bailey, our lead pastor, even gave a talk at staff prayers recently on what we can learn from a Mac Store!

The revolution has begun…..

Anyway, where was I.

Oh yes, hill walking.

I remember one year we were staying in a youth hostel (remember those….) and we walked up Scarfell - the highest peak in England. We went the proper way up - the long way - and we were totally knackered by the end of it. Sitting in the youth hostel that evening we argued about who was going to drive to the pub. I won, and my friend John drove us the 500 yards to this great little place for pie and chips and beer. I can honestly say, that, after the exertion of the day, the two pints of real ale that accompanied the pie and chips were the most beautiful two pints I have ever tasted.

Anyway, another big memory from those walking trips was the time we went up Helvellyn and over Striding Edge. Basically, Striding Edge is this long thin strip of rock at pretty much the high point of that path. You go up this well worn route that is pretty comfortable, but eventually everything gets much more exposed, and scary, with steeper and steeper drops each side. And the final walk along striding edge can be terrifying. But the views are incredible. Get it on a good day and it gives some of the most beautiful landscapes you can imagine.

One of the things that I wish someone had been able to tell me about worship leading when I started out, was that it doesn’t get easier and easier as time goes by. It gets more scary every time. You would think that all the training and practice and leading week by week would eventually make the ground you are walking on feel more secure.

But it doesn’t.

I would have thought that, now having led worship at some of the biggest conferences in the UK, and travelled to various other places - even where the language is different - that my feet would feel that they have a stronger footing.

But they don’t seem to.

More often now than ever, I seem to be standing up, leading worship for my church, feeling like I haven’t really clue what I am doing. You may not know what it’s like to be up in front of people, with that horrible sensation of sweat dripping down your back, gripped by fear that you are making a total hash of things. But take it from me, it’s not very comfortable.

Not very comfortable at all.

And it’s as though my sense of self-belief is getting fainter and fainter the more I do this.

And maybe that’s not a bad thing.

But I wish that someone would have told me that. Whereas most things I seem to have been taught along the way seem to point me at getting more competent - and I guess that is no bad thing - not much seems to have prepared me for the fact that I would, over time, feel like I am walking more and more on the edge.

So the people that are influencing me most at the moment are those who are treading a thinner line - not people who are talking about it (because actually, most people do talk about it), but people actually treading it. So I am listening less to worship leaders who think that a tour of the US is a risky place, but listening to those who are stepping out in the less glamourous mission fields of their own local communities to lead worship. I am listening less to those voices who are producing books that expound the virtues of their own songs, and seeking out those who are delving into the scripture to really understand the nature and Kingdom of God - theologians in particular. I am listening less and less to people who seem to count success by the number of people at their conferences, and more to people who are working out the dangerous game of raising up new people within their own church. I am less interested in those people who are big-ing themselves up because their song is in the top 25 of the CCLI chart, and far more interested in those people who are writing songs that will meet the needs of their own church even though that means there is no chance of a commercial success.

And it’s not just in the whole area of gathered worship. As I try and lead a creative team at church - of designers and video editors and writers - I am realising the power of creative communication. It’s human nature for mankind to be engaged by all things creative: we were made like that. And a large part of that God-given creativity is about walking on the edge. So when we push creative boundaries we find ourselves having a powerful tool with which to engage those outside the church. You only need to see the sorry state of most church literature, design and magazines to realise that it is unsurprising that a large part of the church has lost the power to communicate effectively with those outside it’s walls. And as a result, it’s message is being lost.

But pushing boundaries does not make life easy. In fact the more I seem to tread a thinner line, not only do things feel more scary, but the more I seem to attract questioning voices. The more I push the creative boundaries, the more that I seem to attract the attention of the critical spirits. The more I try and step up onto the mountain peaks, the louder I seem to hear people shout up at me ‘come down, can’t you see the damage you are doing, don’t you care how much all this is costing?’ And actually I don’t deal with that very well. And I need to deal with it better.

The trouble is, that once you’ve seen the views from the scary places, you never want to go back down.

So input number 1: people walking the thinner line.

input

2008-01-30T20:09:00.000Z

input: the power or energy supplied to a machine

I was just about ready to do an article giving my considered opinion on the general content and approach of most worship training I have been to, and most books on worship that I have read recently.

Then I suddenly realised that I haven’t actually been to any worship training recently.

Or read any books.

OK so I’ve done a few seminars and workshops myself recently. But to be honest I’m not sure they were any good either. Not many people turned up. But then again I wasn’t doing a seminar on ‘how-to-write-a-hit-song-and-make-loads-of-money-whilst-at-the-same-time-remaining-
humble-and-not-really-being-concerned-about-the-money’. And I wasn’t doing a seminar on ‘how-to-make-your-band-sound-like-U2-whilst-remaining-strangely-unaffected-by-the-worldwide-fame’. And I had left the seminar on ‘how-to-make-a-big-brother-type-video-and-post-it-on-the-net-
whilst-recording-my-album-all-for-the-sake-of-encouraging-other-people-and-not-promoting-myself-at-all’ to someone else. So it was my own fault really. Should have chosen my subject matter more carefully. I did it on holiness, mystery and creativity. Schoolboy error….

Now where was I?

Oh yes, the quality of worship seminars and books.

You see my good friend, Naomi Lippett emailed me (as well a few other more qualified worship leaders than me) and asked what I would recommend to train up a number of young worship leaders in her church.

And that got me thinking about what influences I have had over the years.

Now I’ve been around the block a few times. I started leading worship, if you can call it that, when I was around 15 in the YPF. For those of you born this side of the 80’s, the YPF was the young people’s fellowship at church. I started by playing songs like ‘Do Lord, or Do Lord’ - you know the one about the arky arky, and ‘in nineteen hundred and sixty six there comes a new theology’ amongst others. I then moved on to university and played songs like ‘majesty’. Kendrick appeared and we were all asking Jesus to Shine, or talked about going out with joy. Then I moved on to my first big proper church we were being still, for the presence of the lord was there, and we sung about our problems disappearing - until we realised that they somehow remained. And of course we were still asking Jesus to shine.

Then I moved onto my second big church and we started to sing about the mountains and the seas, the river (which was here, of course), the fire, and the banqueting table. Soon after, thankfully, we stopped asking Jesus to shine, and the river was no longer here, but we had started to notice that the mountains were trembling and the dancers were dancing, and that we were all so happy, and we quite liked that. It was then that it all started rising up and falling down once again, and after a while we were all so sorry what we had made it. But then we seemed to get over being sorry about what we had made it and it all started again.

And I have been reflecting what actually encouraged me, what took me along the journey. And I think, actually, I have to say I come from the school of hard knocks when it comes to my worship leader training and development. No hang-around-in-coffee-shops-and-write-a-few-lines-of-a-song-no-one-will-ever-sing worship leader retreats for me. There was no ‘worship central’. In fact there was not even a ‘worship-on-the-rubbish-looking-industrial-estate-on-the-edge-of-town’ when I was in my informative years. I taught myself guitar (ok so no surprise there). And there was no ‘teach-yourself-cheesy-worshipful-facial-expressions’ dvd course in ten easy steps (for only £99.99). In fact there was no dvd at all. BetaMax video was the height of technological advances in those days….by ‘eck it were hard…..

But actually, there has been very little worship training, conferences or books on worship that have really made much of an impact - at least that I can remember. So what I am going to do over the next few posts is look at the things that I can recall as significant for me. I’ll let you know what I replied to Lippett, and maybe think of a few more things along the way!

big up

2008-01-24T19:35:00.000Z

big up: respect, encouragement (innit)

In order to have a break from the seriousness of my blogging recently, and having finally got lament 'off my chest' I want to let you know about some songs and recordings from two of my friends that are coming up.

Many of you will know that I have been quite opinionated on the whole worship industry recently, but I am really excited about these two projects, as to me they are trying to model something that I think is really healthy for the church. They are projects owned and funded by local churches, but which then are working in partnership with a distributor who seems to be conceptually big enough to work in this way. And a big 'Hip Hip Horray' to the churches themselves who are also conceptually big enough to grasp that great worship doesn't always equal big profits and are prepared to take a bit of risk in this whole thing.

This means that the songs and albums feel like they have a real integrity to them. There's no sense of either of these artists doing an album for the sake of it, or because they need to do one to make money. They are reflecting what God is doing in their churches at the moment.

And even more than that, both of the worship leaders are very, very good at what they do.

And because they are both very humble types, it probably needs people like me to big them up, because they aren't likely to do it themselves.

The first is DAVID GATE. In the next few weeks David will be starting work on a recording with my own church, Trinity Cheltenham. Many of you probably know that David joined our church having previously been with Soul Survivor in Watford, and has led worship at their conferences in the Summer. Although I decided to overlook that when I offered him a job 18 months ago.

Soul Survivor has produced some outstanding worship leaders and song writers in recent years. But in my mind David stands out as by far the most thoughtful and musical writer of them all. (Yes, even more than the 'big two'). Many of his recent songs have come out of times of worship here at Trinity. One in particular - called 'Bones' - was written between the first and second morning services one Sunday recently. This is no mean feat, given that there is normally only 15 minutes. It has been a big song for us too.

If you are expecting a typical rasping guitar driven youth-type yawn worship album, then this won't be for you. What it will probably be, though, is a beautiful, authentic, worshipful album. There's not many of those about at the moment.

No pressure then Dave.

As it's a church album, we are having to be very clever with the finances too (interpretation - the budget is tiny) so we are blagging everything we can along the way too. Which is sort of fun.

The second is NICK and BECKY DRAKE

Nick is the worship leader at St Paul's Hammersmith, and led worship with me at New Wine a couple of years ago. But he is most noted for his liberal use of the word 'dude' in conversation. Close behind this is his 'rock star' hair (ie a bit all over the place). Despite both of these traits, he has managed to catch a really lovely wife called Becky. And between them they have produced a kidz album called 'God's Big Family'.

Now, one of the worst part of my job as a worship pastor is hunting out new kidz songs. You just can't imagine the complete drivel I have gone through over the years trying to find good kidz songs to sing in church. So when Nick sent me a pre-release copy of his album I was slightly nervous. But within about 10 seconds of listening to the first track I was jumping with glee. Here is the first couple of lines:

You put the stars in outer space, You popped the freckles on my face
All the fish that swim and all the birds that fly
Were made from your incredible imagination.

Becky does most of the vocals thankfully (only a joke Nick), and her voice is just right for the job - full of life and sparkle. And the songs are equally full truth, and thankfully avoid the mindnumbingtriteness of probably every kidz album I have heard since Great Big God.

And as Nick has entrusted me with a pre-release version I also get to be one of the first worship leaders to use them in church, which should add a huge amount to my 'cool and with it' rating.

So there you have it. Two great authentic, original, musical, albums full of great songs on their way. And not a big record label in sight.

Hurrah.

The revolution has begun.

lament: a holy moment

2008-01-23T18:43:00.000Z

Sometimes God’s timing is incredible.

Last night we had our ‘hungry for God’ evening. As a church yesturday we also had a day of prayer and fasting for two main things - our up and coming building project and, more importantly, those in our congregation who are seriously ill at the moment. We have our ‘Hungry for God’ evenings once a month, where we gather to pray and seek God as a church. I love leading worship at these times - there always seems to be a huge anticipation for what God may do. And last night was no exception: the church was crammed with people wanting to meet with God.

After a time of worship at the beginning, we started to pray for those who were ill. And of the 150 or so people who came for prayer, there were many who were very seriously ill. There were others who also came forward for prayer who were representing loved ones who couldn’t be there for one reason or another.

It was one of those moments I will remember for a long time.

There I was singing and leading the band gently as others prayed, and I was able to look out over so many of my friends, some of them very close friends as they were prayed for, and as I say, some who were very ill, possibly with life threatening conditions. I was reminded again of the huge privilege it is leading worship for my church. But as I was sensing it was time to move on back into worship, the question was ‘what do I sing?’

In one sense, if ever there was a time for a song of lament, then surely this was it.

But as I stood there, I just knew that there was no way I could lead a lament. I couldn’t do that with my congregation, my friends who I loved.

I just had to sing a song of hope.

And it was as if God was confirming some of the things I have been challenged with over recent weeks. The theological exercise I had been going through was suddenly brought sharply into focus as I was faced with this very real situation.

It was a holy moment.

In that building last night we were gathered as a people with a huge range of life situations. Those dealing with painful situations were standing alongside those who were feeling stronger. We stood alongside each other and prayed with a passion. And there were many tears along the way. But last night we were still a church full of hope, and a people marked out by praise.

And as we sang a song of hope, a song of praise, the sense of God's presense was incredible. And what a testament to those who were ill and suffering that they were praising with such a passion.

I was chatting with my friend and pastor Mark Bailey and sharing what I sensed, and he also reminded me of another time in our church. We were doing the funeral of one of the church members - a lady who had died relatively young and left a husband and family. Mark said that he had talked to one of the guests, who wasn’t a Christian, after the service who said something like this: ‘I wouldn’t mind coming to this church again - I had expected it to be miserable - but it was so full of hope’.

I have enjoyed this study. It clearly has not been as extensive as those done by others. In fact some may say that I may have only scratched the surface. But I am coming to believe that the focus that so many worship leaders and theologians have been trying to give to this whole area of lament is not just unhelpful, but is a big distraction to the real mission of the church.

So my request to the 5.2 worship leaders and a dog who probably read this blog is this: Please write more songs of hope. Please write more songs of praise. Please write more songs that help raise the levels of faith and the commitment to intercession and service in the world that grow the kingdom.

And to record companies, my request is this. Please never release another album called a ‘lament for a nation’ or any such title. Please don’t. It is a distraction. Don’t worry if it means loosing out on a few sales. Seek out songs of hope and praise.

You see, the church should embody the hope that is Jesus Christ. The church should be marked out by praise. And the church should be one that seeks the extension of God’s kingdom through the passion of it’s prayers and the sweat of it’s brow.

And as a worship leader who feels his primary purpose is to serve the church, this is where I want to focus my efforts from now on.

Hope.

Praise.

Growing the kingdom.

BRING IT ON

Lament: How Long?

2008-01-21T13:31:00.000Z

As you probably know by now, I have two daughters. And in many ways they are very different personalities. But there is one thing that they seem to have totally in common. There is one situation in life that they use exactly the same words almost without fail. And every time they use the words I feel my blood pressure rising.

It happens almost without fail every time we get into the car and set off on a journey as a family. And the words are repeated with a regularity that is utterly astounding.

The thing is, that I know I used the same words when I was young. And so did my wife. And I’m sure that we drove our parents mad as well. And I’m also pretty sure that one day our two daughters will be driven to the edge of despair by their children in exactly the same way.

The words seem to be handed down from generation to generation. It’s like we are pre-programmed with them.

And those words?

‘How long until we get there?’

Now basically, our children are quite good in the car. They get very silly sometimes, and get a little bit noisy quite often. But they travel quite well, and apart from one stressful trip to new wine a couple of years back (which, my wife reminds me was also typified by a lot of shouting from me), neither of them have been sick. And in fact things have got even better recently since we gave them each an ipod shuffle for Christmas. (provided they both don’t sing along at once to completely different tracks)

But even though they are quite good at travel, they don’t love it, and at regular intervals we get those immortal words ‘how long until we get there?’

In the Psalms we find that expression often too. Well, the ‘How Long’ part anyway. The psalmist may have also used the ‘how long until we get there’ line as well, but I’m guessing that such times weren’t considered worthy of recording for the benefit of future generations. But in most of the cases actually recorded, the psalmist is essentially asking of God ‘How long until You act?’ Whether that’s in showing His face (Psalms 13 and 89), in acting against wickedness or injustice (Psalms 94, 119), in stopping is anger (79) or in stopping those that seem to be against the psalmist himself (35)

When ever I have read these passages in the past, I have felt that in the main, the psalmist is somewhat resigned to his fate, generally praising along the way, but resigned. But as I’ve been reading them again recently, I’ve been sensing something else.

Maybe, just maybe, behind the often repeated ‘How Long?’ is not a complaint, but a prayer.

Maybe the ‘How Long?’ is not a mournful, resigned sob, but an intentional cry.

Maybe the psalmist is turning the apparent inactivity of God into a flexing of His faith-muscles.

You see, although we seem to have to live with pain, suffering and disappointment on this earth, we also know that we are called to engage ourselves in bringing about the growth of God’s kingdom on this earth. Because, although it could all happen without us, it seems that it won’t all happen without us. God has chosen us as co-workers in bringing about change.

And once again, I have to say that I am not sure that the church needs more songs of lament, but it certainly needs more songs that help us engage and pray for change, to plead for God to break through in power, to cry out to Him for the spring rain of His presence.

Lament: A people of praise

2008-01-15T15:53:00.000Z

In the 80’s we used to sing a song called ‘Jesus we celebrate Your victory’.

It went like this:

Jesus, we celebrate Your victory, Jesus, we revel in Your love
Jesus, we rejoice, You've set us free, Jesus, Your death has brought us life
It was for freedom that Christ has set us free, no longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery
So we're rejoicing in God's victory - our hearts responding to His love
His Spirit in us releases us from fear - the way to Him is open, with boldness we draw near
And in His presence our problems disappear - our hearts responding to His love

Now two things concern me about this song. The first thing that concerns me is that I must be so old that I can talk about songs that I used to sing in church 20 years ago. But the main thing that concerns me is that the theology is total baloney.

OK, it starts out well. The chorus is strong, talking about victory and freedom. The first verse builds on this really well. Then the second verse carries on the theme, and it’s all great, until right at the end it totally loses the plot with a last line that is just plain wrong.

Now some people, with the linguistic dexterity of Bill Clinton in his famous quote on Monica Lewinski, may be able to put some incredible spin on it so they could carry on singing it. But I never could.

Now I know I will have probably upset some people by saying this. The last time I questioned the theology of a song in a sermon I got emails complaining. You know the sort of email: ‘this song was the song I sang as I committed my life to the Lord’. ‘This was the song I sang when I got married to my childhood sweetheart’. ‘This song was sung at my great grand cousin’s funeral’. ‘This song was the single most important thing in my walk with God and you have rubbished it.” etc etc.

But just stay with me on this one for a while.

Our hope is certain. Absolutely. The Kingdom will come completely one day, and from that point onwards there will be no more tears, no more suffering, no more death. We will be in the presence of God and all our problems will have disappeared. But until that day, we live in the times where the Kingdom has come, but not fully come. We live in times of partial sight, times of partial understanding. We may find a measure of understanding why they remain. We may even have enough faith to believe that in everything God will ultimately work things out for good. But a consequence of living in the now and the not yet of the kingdom is that problems will be a part of our lives until the day we die. Or as Jesus says. ‘In this world you will have trouble’.

And so when we gather as a church on a Sunday, we will gather as a people who will have a whole range of problems. Some may be those caused by our own sin or disobedience. Some will be caused by someone else’s sin or disobedience, of which we are innocent victims. Many will seem to have no immediate explanation whatsoever. But as we face up to those problems and situations, at some time or another our hearts will hurt. And when our hearts hurt, we cry, we grieve, we feel frail. And me, for one, wants our church, here in Cheltenham, to be a place where those with hurting hearts can come, and cry, and grieve and ask the question ‘why?’.

You see, to lament is human. The world understands grief and expressions of grief. The world understands pain and expressions of pain. Ever since Adam and Eve, lament in some form or another has been part of the life of every man and women that has walked the earth. Anyone who saw the expression of national grief in the US after 9/11 can see that people lament. Anyone who witnessed the extraordinary outpouring of grief in the UK following the death of Diana, has seen a nation cry. Anyone who has seen the media images of suffering in Darfur, or of hardship in Zimbabwi will have seen people who are expressing pain and suffering. The world knows about lament. And so to me, the thing that marks us out as Christians is not that we know how to lament. The thing that marks us out as Christians is that we know how to praise. Because to lament is human, but to praise is divine.

When I read the Psalms, the thing that seems to leap out of the text is not the words of sorrow, but the expressions of praise in the sorrow. Praise that is stirred by faith and fired by hope.

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God. (Psalm 43).

The church may well need a few more songs that deal with the now and the not yet of the kingdom. The church may well need worship leaders who are more sensitive to the real situations that people come to church with. We should and must deal better with these issues. But above everything else, praise needs to be on our lips, praise needs to be rising up within us.

Because the hallmark of the church is not so much its songs of lament, but its songs of praise.

Lament: A Church Of Hope

2008-01-07T09:45:00.001Z

Sometimes I disappoint myself.

This Christmas we had our annual carol service at the Centaur, which is the concert venue at Cheltenham Racecourse. Approaching 2000 people from across the region joined together for a festive celebration of carols and readings. It was a great evening, full of sparkle and fun and lights and dancing and confettii! It was fantastic to work with such a team of wonderful people who helped make the event happen.

But this week we have been looking at some of the video footage. And now my team are calling me Mr Grumpy, because when I was singing the first carol (hark the herald angels) I look really miserable. OK, so most people wouldn’t have been able to see as close up as the video managed to get, and if truth be known, sometimes the build up to these events is so stressful that when you actually get started you are still in stress mode. And fortunately there were enough smily faces around me to make up for the frown that seemed permanently stuck on to my face.

But I was disappointed.

And I was disappointed because I am not sure that the way I was frowning helped contribute to one of the main purposes I think the church has: to be a place that in everything it does, expresses hope. My stressed out face may have been a true reflection of how I was feeling in that moment, but anyone seeing it close up would have probably not got the impression that I was someone full of hope.

OK so maybe I’m navel gazing a little. But let’s look at hope.

God’s kingdom is a kingdom where hope reigns. When people come into a relationship with Jesus, they become part of the kingdom of God which declares a living hope - Jesus Christ. But this hope is not a hope that the world immediately grasps the meaning of. When the world talks of hope, it normally means a hope for greater financial security, greater national prosperity, a better marriage, better educated children, for fitness and health. People hope they will win the lottery, that their children get into the better schools, that their investments will show a good return, that they will get that job promotion.

And there is nothing wrong with all of these things.

But if our understanding of hope is founded on these things, then ultimately our hope will probably crash around us.

There’s this classic quote from the film Clockwise, where John Cleese says this: ‘It’s not the despair: I can cope with despair. It’s the hope that is killing me.’

You see chasing after false hopes can be soul destroying.

But our hope, the hope of a kingdom people, is based on this: that our place in heaven is assured, and in the meantime God has a purpose for us. This hope is not a false hope, it is a True Hope. And this True Hope is worth chasing after, as it's pursuing brings life.

What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory (1 Peter 1 - message).

I love the last line of that verse. Too often we are tempted to judge kingdom life by the presence of gold, and not by the presence of faith. To often tie up God’s blessing with the trapping of a ‘successful’ life rather than obedience to God’s purpose for us.

But even more than this, my understanding is, however often that evil manages to frustrate or damage, however often our lack of prayerfulness hinders us, however often our disobedience holds us back, God’s promise never fails. For His people, His hope is rock solid.

And so what does the church offer to those who come through it’s doors in a place of brokenness, suffering, questioning, grief or pain?

True Hope.

What does the church offer to communities that have had their hearts broken?

True Hope.

What does the church offer to nations that have their very way of life challenged?

True Hope.

Not ‘Gold’. Not false assurances. But True Hope.

Many people encourage me to write songs of Lament. I still remain slightly sceptical. Maybe during the course of this study into lament over the coming weeks I may change my mind. But what I am sure about is this: as a church, we need to be singing songs of hope. We need to be a church that in everything it does, declares, and lives out, True Hope.

Mr Grumpy?

Lament: God is bigger than our songs

2007-12-20T18:35:00.000Z

Songs are hugely important. Anyone who knows me, knows how much weight I give to the theology of our songs, the accessibility of our songs and the creativity in our song-writing: all of these, in my view are hugely important in terms of one major aim: they connect people to God.

We need good theology because we know that it is only the truth that will set us free; we need accessibility so that people can relate to and understand that truth; and we need to engage our creativity so that we are constantly attuning ourselves to the way that God is moving and speaking.

But it is in the way that our songs connect people to God that must be the context in which our songs operate.

And so there is something in me that has come to realise that, at the end of the day, a song is just a song. What I treasure the most in worship - what drives me on to keep leading worship - is that people encounter God in worship. And the more I lead worship, the more I realise that the way that God reveals his presence to his people when they sing is far greater and wider and higher than the quality of our songs could ever hope to determine in themselves.

I love hearing stories of what God does during any time of worship. On occasions it seems that God has a very specific thing he is doing amongst the whole of his gathered people: maybe we together we celebrate, or confess, or bow down. And those times are very special and draw us together as a people of God. But on more occasions than not, it seems that God is at work in a multitude of ways: almost as though he deals with each person completely individually. We may all be singing the same songs, but we all seem to be able to testify to the very individual things that God is doing in our lives.

So we can all sing the song ‘great is your faithfulness’. Some maybe celebrating, some may be weeping. Some maybe singing out of a place where they have seen God move incredibly in their lives, some maybe singing as they hold on to the last fragment of faith. In a very real way, some people can be in that place of lament at the same time some people can be in the place of rejoicing. This is one of the huge mysteries of worship.

So as I start to examine lament in more detail, I come from the point of view that a whole lot of lament happens already in our gathered worship times. I know it in the stories I hear, I see it in the tears of people as they sing. And all this happens without any sense that we are writing specific ‘lament songs’ or engaging in any specific corporate ‘lament times’.

And that happens, I think, because God is so much bigger than the songs we sing.

I’m not saying that we don’t need to be open to more corporate, specific acts of lament over particular situations, or that we don’t need to write specific songs for that purpose. But I do want to challenge the view that we don’t already have some tools that enable us to do this.

lament

2007-12-13T15:07:00.000Z

Lament: to feel, show, or express grief, sorrow, or regret

One of the studies I hope to be doing over the next weeks and months is into the whole area of lament, and in particular the extent to which our gathered worship can reflect lament.

Over recent times this issue has been raised in a number of situations which I have been personally involved in. In open letters to worship leaders, some theologians have requested that we sing songs of lament; in seminars I have done at New Wine, I have been asked why we don’t sing more songs of lament; and at some gatherings of songwriters in recent years there has been a spoken intention for us worship leaders to embrace the language in lament more in the songs we write.

And it is abundantly clear to me that lament is part of life. It was part of the life of great biblical characters; it has been part of the life of nations throughout history; and most of us can probably point to seasons in our lives where we have personally lamented because of our own life situations. It seems that lament is part of us living in the ‘now and not yet’ of the kingdom, and will be with us until death, or until Jesus comes again.

Yet despite the clarity we have over the place of lament in life, there seems to be little clarity in how lament should impact our times of corporate worship. In one sense it has to impact it in some shape or measure - if we say that our gathered worship and our lives of worship are inextricably linked then that is an obvious consequence. And of course we have to be able to ‘rejoice with those who rejoice’ as well as ‘weep with those who weep’.

But if I am honest, at this moment of time I come from a slightly sceptical point of view, in that whereas I want our times of gathered worship to be a place where those are struggling can encounter God, I don’t want to generate, or drive, or manipulate my congregation into that place of lament. And so when I hear the voices of theologians or songwriters insisting on the language and form of lament in gathered worship, I am naturally cautious.

But rather than stay in that place of scepticism, I want to study, I want to seek God’s voice and try and understand. And so every so often on this blog I will return to this subject, and, as ever, your comments and pointers and opinions would be gratefully received.

if

2007-12-05T12:34:00.000Z

if: when or whenever

If you can keep going with what God intends for you, always doing the small thing well, even when all your peers are moving from one big conference to the next;

If you can love your congregation when they are driving you to distraction with their un-responsiveness and consumeristic tendencies;

If you can continue to serve week in week out, year in year out, in your own local church without ever seeking the big gig;

If you can hear critisism of your very best efforts but not critisise back;

If you can be used greatly by God and never take the opportunity to brag;

If you can accept that some people will always be jealous of your gifting and try and bring you down;

If you can hold lightly onto your anointing, and use every song that God gives you to serve Him and not yourself;

If you can persevere through the times that ‘god doesn’t seem to show up’ and not be conceited when ‘god does show up’;

If you can put as much energy into living the life as you do into singing the songs;

If you can bounce back with enthusiasm when you are let down badly by people who should know better;

If you are not afraid to take risks and push boundaries and not be worried about looking a fool;

If you are not afraid to move on from every failure without losing enthusiasm, and without ever complaining;

If you are prepared to bear your heart and soul before people and keep going when your best efforts are thrown back in your face;

If you are prepared to stand up and serve people even in that moment when you feel you have absolutely nothing left to give;

If you can lay your ambitions down for the sake of serving your congregation, and never let success go to your head,

If you treasure the approval of God far above the content of public opinion, and consider it ‘job done’ when those you have served can’t even remember your name;

Then, my friend, you will be a worship leader.

insecurity

2007-11-30T18:49:00.000Z

insecurity: lack of confidence or assurance; self-doubt; subject to fears, doubts, etc.; not self-confident or assured

The story goes like this.

Saul is King. David is the intern. David kills the giant. Then everyone likes David more than Saul. As they march back glowing with the success of victory, the Israelites chant ‘Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands’. Saul doesn’t like it. And from that moment on he kept a jealous eye on David.

That was a defining moment in the life of Saul.

In that moment his insecurity got the better of him. In that moment his fate was sealed. In that moment he started down the road to destruction. Because insecurity isn’t a small character flaw that a person is OK indulging every now and then. Insecurity isn’t a small wound that causes a person the odd bit of discomfort.

Insecurity is a cancer that feeds on a persons obsession with self.

It kills.

Compare that with this.

David pursues Saul and enters into his camp. He gets into Saul’s tent whilst Saul sleeps. He had a moment where he could kill Saul and claim the crown. If ever there was a moment to make his mark, this was it. If ever there was a moment to remove this destructive force in his life, this was it. If ever there was a moment to guarantee his future prosperity, this was it.

But unlike Saul, David didn’t let his insecurity get the better of him. And in that moment his fate was sealed. In that moment he started down the road to success. Because his security in God gave him the strength of heart to focus on the kingdom of God rather than his own place of influence and power.

The secure person looks for signs of kingdom life but the insecure person looks for possibilities of personal profile. The secure person sees a church growing and lives being changed but the insecure person sees opportunities for extending influence. The secure person lives in the tension of the ‘now and the not yet’ of life but the insecure person sees every box left ‘un-ticked’ in their portfolio as a challenge to their self worth.

However, if insecurity is a cancer that feeds on a persons obsession with self, then security is the mark of a person’s obsession with God.

If I am obsessed with God I will make decisions that shine light on Him, not me. If I am obsessed with God I will find places of hidden-ness to serve Him, not just places of profile to serve Him. If I am obsessed with God I will rejoice in seeing those around me succeed and fly in their ministry, and not be afraid to take a back seat. If I am obsessed with God I will take the route of faith rather than the route of celebrity.

And if I am obsessed with God I will realise just how big He is, and just how small I am, and be satisfied with both.

tension

2007-11-25T16:45:00.000Z

tension: the interplay of conflicting elements

We live life in the midst of tensions.

Some of those tensions come about purely because people view things in different ways.

Take our car for example. When I look at our car, I think: “O look, a haven of peace and quiet away from the busyness of life; a place where you can listen to the pleasant hum of radio five live; a place where everything is clean, organised and tidy”. Whereas, when my wife looks at our car she thinks: “O look, a place to store stuff’. Tension results. We have to live with it. At least until one of my songs starts to make a huge pile of cash and I can buy my own car.

Some tensions are creative.

In our songs we get melodies and harmonies that move us from one flavour to the next - from something that builds expectation to something that provides rest, from something that questions the mind to something that satisfies the heart. There may be tension in a painting or in a piece of writing as we seek to explore themes and illustrate emotions. They are tensions that provide interest and colour into our lives.

And then some tensions arise because you are forced to watch disastrous circumstances unfold from the sidelines, unable to have any influence on the eventual outcome.

England vs Croatia. Enough said.

Then there are divine tensions.

Divine tensions.

Makes you want to close down this blog and turn on some trivial television, doesn’t it?

Divine tensions.

But just stay with me for a moment. There’s still a few more minutes before strictly come dancing starts.

Divine tensions.

These are tensions inherent in the nature of God that are not designed to be resolved but form the foundations of His character and activity. They are tensions that we may well never fully be able to explain, but they are tensions that we need to fully embrace as we walk with God.

And here is one of the tensions that I am wrestling with: God is the God of Miracles. He can, and does, perform wondrous acts that can only be explained by divine intervention. Water becomes wine, the blind immediately start to see, the lame instantaneously walk. Yet God is also a God of Majesty. He is a sovereign God, and as such, He makes decisions about how and what and when He will reveal things to us. And sometimes that seems to mean that the sick don’t always get better, that the wine runs out, that the lame have to live with their disability for a very long while.

It’s a huge tension. Miracles and Majesty.

And I often find that people tend to identify themselves with one side of this tension more easily than the other.

There are those that are living for miracles. Their favourite words are ‘glory’ and ‘experience’ and they look for gold dust and diamond studded teeth. They live life ‘plundering heaven’ and ‘walking in the victory’. Just say the right prayers with the right words and with the right hand and body gestures and you’ll see God break through with miraculous power. It all sounds so plausible. But there is a weakness in this approach. It’s consumerism in a brand new hat. And actually God probably isn’t a God who deals out His favours in response to a formula. His miracles aren’t there on the shelf waiting to be picked up and taken to the checkout. He has compassion on whom He has compassion. His choice.

Then there are those who can only understand the majesty. They are resigned to whatever life throws at them. Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be. Their favourite words are ‘humble’ and ‘contrite’ and they sit and wait for an invitation to a royal tea party that never arrives, whilst their lives descend into a numbed inactivity. And there’s a weakness in this approach too. It’s laziness wrapped up in the illusion of humility. And God doesn’t expect the treasures He gives to us to be buried out of sight where they don’t demand any attention. He expects us to invest everything we have in making them work for His purposes.

You see, it seems to me that we actually need to be people who hold in tension the miracles and the majesty of God. We need to pursue Him, and pray for His miraculous intervention in our world and the lives of those around us. We need to draw ever closer to Him, seeking His intervention, but as we draw closer to Him, we also need to bow down lower before Him, yielding to His sovereignty.

And yes, we need to lift our voices as the gathered people of God, crying out for His wonders to be performed in our towns and cities, desperate to see His kingdom grow amongst us. But as we cry out ever louder to Him, we also need to throw off our shoes and remember we stand on holy ground.

And as we do this, we discover one of the main qualities that embracing divine tension brings in life.

Strength.

Tension is the strength for the world’s tallest buildings and longest bridges. It stands at the heart of sky-scrapers in their steel structures, and it rests in the very wires that support the bridges that span our widest rivers. And when we embrace this tension of miracles and majesty we too find our strength. Strength to continue to pray with all our might when we are desperate to see God move in a particular way. And strength to believe that, when the answer is not what we hoped for, God has made His choice from His heart of love that ultimately has our best interests, and His best interests, in mind.

When we embrace divine tension, we find divine strength.

Now where’s that TV remote…..

wonder

2007-11-22T12:53:00.000Z

wonder: to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe; marvel

Now you need to know something about me.

And it’s this.

I don’t do tears.

I get frustrated often, angry occasionally, ecstatic very occasionally, emotional now and then. But tears? No. Not me. No way Hosay.

OK I lied. There have been a few times. I cried when my dad died. I cried at my grandparents’ funerals. I cried when things got really bad at a church I was at once. And although I don’t remember, I probably cried a lot when I was a child. But as an adult, apart from these, and a very few other isolated incidents, tears just really aren’t my thing. I’m one of those characters who generally seems to go through life with a very level emotional temperature. I’m not emotionally dysfunctional. I don’t need tones of prayer ministry. I haven’t got some sort of dark secret from my childhood that needs uncovering, exposing and dealing with. I just don’t really do tears very often. Sorry.

So imagine my surprise recently, then, when I was watching a competitor on one of these TV talent shows when I felt the old salty water start to well up. It didn’t actually flow. It just sort of bubbled there just beneath the surface. But it caught me by surprise.

And the program?

X factor.

The artist?

Leona.

It nearly made me cry.

It was weird.

And it wasn’t just the once. It happened a few times. All the way to the final. And then again when I watched the highlights of the series some months later.

Really weird.

Now you need to know something else about me. Before I took the humbling and financially suicidal step into full time worship pastoring, I worked as an actuary in the insurance industry. And for those of you who don’t know what an actuary is, it is basically someone who analyses to death anything that remotely whiffs of numbers, finance or statistics. It was my job to take what may have appeared to be a random sequence of events, and search for patterns, construct models round those patterns, and then predict the aforesaid sequence of apparently random events into the future. I just couldn’t sleep at night until I had understood and analysed, processed and sanitised. And so when I began to sense these tears well up whilst watching X factor I couldn’t just let it go. I had to know why.

Could it be the songs? Well no, because I had heard them all before by other artists such as Judy Garland and Whitney Houston and hadn’t remotely bottled up.

Could it be that the program itself was so beautifully put together? Well of course not. I have watched it before and since and managed to hold it together.

Could it be that because here was someone who had finally silenced even Simon Cowell? Well this is probably something to be thankful for, but no.

So what was it?

And then it struck me.

Wonder.

Something you don’t often see in people these days.

Wonder.

Something that, in this age of self centered-ness and lack of innocence we rarely come across.

Wonder.

Something that is totally missing in most of the talentless egos that appear on our screens most of the time.

Wonder.

This singer came over as someone who really couldn’t believe what she was getting involved in. When any of the judges complimented her on her singing, she seemed totally surprised. When ever she got selected for the next round, she seemed genuinely mystified. Even when she came first in what had to be the most one-sided final ever to exist in a talent show, she seemed to find it incredulous. The rest of the country, and many other counties around the world clearly recognised what an incredible talent she was. But Liona seemed to be almost mystified. She seemed to be truly in awe at what was happening to her. And when she sang, with such a breathtaking perfection, with such a gut-wrentching emotion, you could see it in her eyes.

Wonder.

And through all this I think God spoke to me.

I say ‘think’, because my spiritual ears are pretty dull most of the time. And also I’m feeling a little daft admitting that maybe God spoke to me through the X factor. But just for the moment, humour me, and let’s assume that this was God.

I think God began to speak to me about something that maybe I have lost a little in my worship. O.K. over the years I have probably got a bit better at what I do, I think I understand more what I do, and I have even maybe become more articulate expressing what I do and why. But when I plug my guitar in, and start strumming, maybe, just maybe, I have lost a little of the wonder of what I am getting involved with.

Wonder. The wonder of worship.

And this is the wonder: we actually get to do this. We actually get to worship God. We actually get to encounter Him in our songs, our music, our church. We actually get to do this thing called worship. And even more than this, this thing called worship: it was God’s idea. He designed us this way. It’s at His initiation that we worship. It’s because of His mercy we can worship. From the moment we were born, God has been singing over us. And throughout all of our lives He has been seeking us out. He has been singing over us. And as He has been singing over us, He has been inviting us to come and join in the song. To feast. To be satisfied as His children.

It is underserved. It is unmeritted. It is incredible.

It is wonder-ful.

You see, I could write the most widely sung worship songs ever. I could record the most played worship album ever (‘dream on’ I hear you cry), I could have the most amazing worship band at my disposal (well actually, they are pretty good), and lead worship at the largest of all conferences. But unless I carry a whole heap of wonder in my heart through it all, it becomes a purely intellectual exercise: dull, lifeless and self centered.

Whereas if my worship is full of wonder it becomes colourful, life-giving and life-changing.

Wonder.

Bring it on.

close

2007-11-16T21:11:00.000Z

close: to take or clasp in the arms; press to the bosom; hug.

Many of you may know that my eldest daughter, Lizzy, had an accident a few weeks ago. She was on her bike. Probably doing some sort of ridiculously outrageous wheely, knowing her.

The first I heard was when my wife called my office and said that she had been sitting on the sofa, apparently in agony for half an hour. I rushed home, and then drove her down to the hospital. Apparently what had happened was that she had fallen off her bike, and as she fell, the handlebars twisted round, and the end of the handlebars went into her stomach.

So there I was, sitting in casualty, feeling helpless as my daughter sobbed in pain, waiting for the doctor to see her. It took a while. Eventually we got her seen by a pediatrician. After a few tests, and a second opinion, we were told that she should have a full scan. It was the equivalent of her receiving a full years ‘background’ radiation in one go. There were other options, but they wouldn’t give the doctors the information they needed, in the detail they needed. So I agreed. My wife had arrived by that time too, and so we went in for the scan as a family.

Lizzy was really brave, and did very well. It was distressing, but she seemed ok by the end. We went back to the waiting room and….waited. I popped of to the toilet. When I returned, my wife and daughter had disappeared. I questioned the nurse, and she told me that they had gone back to CT area. I found my wife there. She looked at me and said ‘they want to do another one’.

That was one of those moments that parents dread. Given that they had been reluctant to do the full scan in the first place, the fact that they wanted to do another one could only mean one thing. They had found something wrong. I could see it in my wife’s eyes. A fear, tempered only with a desire to hold it together for the sake of Lizzy, and my younger daughter Sarah, who was of course with us.

Lizzy had her second scan, and quite quickly we were taken back into the consultant who said they had found some fluid around her duodenum. They said they had done the second scan to try and confirm their suspicions. And their suspicion was that the handlebars, whilst not going through the skin, had effectively momentarily trapped the duodenum between the handlebars and the spine, and had punctured it.

And that, they said, didn’t get better by itself.

They needed to rush her to the hospital in Gloucester because they were expecting that Lizzy needed an operation.

So my wife stayed with Lizzy, and prepared to go in the ambulance to Gloucester. And I left with Sarah, to take her home to try and settle her. As we left the hospital, me and Sarah, hand in hand, she started to weep. Even at that young age she had sensed that she had needed to hold it together for Lizzy’s sake. But now at that moment, finally out of sight from her sister, Sarah cried her eyes out.

And as we walked, hand in hand back to the car, we prayed together.

That evening, I had intended to be at a meeting at church. It was a gathering of all our leaders, cluster leaders and ministry leaders. So, as we drove home, I ran past the church, hopped out of the car, and met my friend and co-pastor Tim, and asked him to pray. I rushed away, anxious to get Sarah home, and then get down to the hospital where Lizzy was headed. I found out later that the whole gathering prayed for Lizzy during that time...many stayed late to pray more.

But I had left, I took Sarah home and got her to bed. I had to lie down with her on her bed to settle her. Eventually she drifted off.

By then a friend had come round to baby-sit. So I headed off to Gloucester hospital. As I arrived and parked, I found my great friend Mark there too. He had left the leadership gathering early to come and give some moral support, and pray for us. We went up to Lizzy, who by then was in the high dependency unit. We prayed, and then waited for the specialist.

Eventually the specialist came and spoke to us. He had reviewed her scan, and decided that he wouldn’t, after all, need to operate. He too had seen the fluid around the stomach, but felt it was better not to operate, but to wait. He now thought that it was just a bit bruised.

Anyway to cut a long story short....

Well, not too short, if you’ve got this far....

Lizzy had a few very uncomfortable days in hospital. Susie was incredible and stayed with her through the nights. And I did the relatively easy day-shift.

By the weekend, five days after her accident, Lizzy was back at home, and feeling much better.

Then on the Saturday morning, she and I went out for morning coffee and hot chocolate together. It was her first trip out after the accident, and she was so much better.Now I’m one of those people who tends to claim little, but be thankful alot. And that morning I was so thankful to God that she was there with me, thankful for all my friends who had prayed, and thankful that Lizzy was apparently well on the road to recovery.

And we strolled into town, in the fresh, cold, but beautiful autumn sunshine.

Now Lizzy is at that stage where she doesn’t like too much contact. I only get a hug if I creep up on her unawares. And holding hands is completely out of the question. But I am allowed to put my arm around her shoulders as we walk. That seemingly is quite cool.

I try and know as much as possible about my daughter. That’s so important as I seek to serve her, and invest in her as a father. That really is so important. But in that moment, we were walking together into town in the fresh early morning autumn sunshine, my arm was around her shoulders, and she and I were smiling. I was close enough to see the glint in her eyes, and the flash of teeth in her smile.

And my heart was captured.

And I thought: all the knowledge I have about my daughter is really important, but it is in this moment of closeness that I am compelled to a life of devotion towards her.

It was in that moment of closeness that I was compelled to live a life of devotion to her.

You see, we can have all the knowledge in the world about someone. But we need moments of closeness where our hearts become captured, moments of closeness when we are compelled to live lives of devotion.

Mistake

2007-11-09T12:26:00.000Z

mistake: an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge.

I think I may have made a mistake.

Well maybe not a mistake, at least not a huge one. Maybe it was more of a mis-calculation, an over-reaction. It happens all the time in life: We get challenged about something, we see some things that leave us uncomfortable, and with the best of intentions we go about changing them, and go too far the other way.

The trouble is with people like me is, that for some very strange reason, I seem to have ended up in a position where people listen to me. Despite being a pretty poor singer, a very average worship leader and a technically awful guitar player, I seem to be in a place where my actions and words and seminars and blog articles are actually read by people. Sometimes they may even act on them. And so any small over-reaction on my part is potentially going to be amplified into the lives of others, into other churches around the country.

Scary, isn’t it.

Well, you’re probably wondering what my mistake was. And I will get to it, honest. But first some background.

I grew up as a Christian, in a baptist church in my home town, Winchester. I grew up singing great hymns, played on a not-so-great pipe organ, by a lovely man called Arnold. Arnold even taught me how to play the organ, for which I am very grateful. I sang with gusto. I sang these great anthems about God, probably in the main to show my peers that I knew the bass line.

I then went to University, and suddenly I came across some very passionate, expressive Christians, and they seemed to sing songs to God, not just about God. Over the coming years, I then came across the teachings of people like Wimber. And he taught us about about intimacy in worship. And suddenly I was singing songs like ‘I love You Lord’ with a passion myself. I had discovered intimacy in worship myself. And it was a good thing.

But after a while, I started to feel uncomfortable. Then a little confused. And finally a little empty. As I worshipped more, I studied the word more. And over a period of time, I found that the things I was learning from the Bible were not being reflected in the songs I was singing. At least, they were reflected, but only in part. The songs I was singing had become one-dimensional and thin at the same time that my theology had become mult-dimensional and deep.

And that left me with a problem.

I ended up sitting in some of these big conference halls, full of thousands of people worshipping, feeling like a spectator. I ended up looking through my songbooks with despair as I tried to find good new songs to sing in our church. I got almost angry with the casualness of some of the lyrics I was being asked to sing, which were so theologically weak or just plain wrong.

But after while, I sensed I was not alone, and then some great worship leaders started to write some great songs that were full of truth. Songwriters like Redman and Smith brought a balance to the great songs of intimacy from writers like Doerkson and Tuttle and Ruis. These songs became our modern day anthems. And as we saw the rise of the big conferences worldwide, we saw the rise of more and more of these big anthems of praise. And I loved it. We had rediscovered a part of worship that the church had lost. My own songs, though in no way comparable to those of the aforementioned writers, also took on the anthemic themes. And so my songbook became full of songs that I felt so much happier with. Balance, I thought, had been restored.

But just recently I’ve had this little nagging in the back of my mind. And maybe, just maybe, it’s a the feint voice of God just reminding me of something. “Don’t forget Intimacy. Maybe you’ve over-reacted a little, swung too far with all these songs of proclamation”

And actually there’s some truth in that. And that’s my confession.

But then again, I am still not sure about the use of this whole word - intimacy - in worship. At least, not unless we fully understand it, explain it, put it in a strong theological framework.

The word intimacy in the English language is still almost exclusively used to describe relationships of affection, of a close, personal, and often sexual nature. And in the bible, the language most akin to intimacy is saved for Song of Songs which for me is clearly about a sexual relationship between man and woman. When I normally talk about intimacy in everyday life, it’s one of those words I would only really use in the context of my relationship with my wife. And this intimacy is a safe intimacy: my wife and I have made a commitment to each other in this respect. Almost always, the word intimacy is a word about embrace, an embrace between equals.

But Isaiah 33:13 God says ‘You who are near, acknowledge my power’. Psalm 85:9 says ‘Surely his salvation is near those who fear Him’. Psalm 25:14 says ‘The Lord is a friend to those who fear Him’.

When we come close to God, we certainly are invited into an embrace. But this embrace is not an embrace of equals. Far from it. Intimacy with God is a dangerous intimacy, an intimacy of the creator with the created, an intimacy of the Holy One with one who is made holy only by His grace. The promise is that, if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. But we also have to know that when we draw near to God, we are compelled to bow down in fear and reverence for who God is.

Then we also need to read Psalm 145:18 which says: ‘The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth’.

You see it is not enough for us to aim to be honest and real and sincere in our worship. We have to aim to be right too. We have to worship in truth, with truth. It is not acceptable to sing songs that have bad theology, merely because they make us feel good, or have good tunes, or are played by very slick bands. God says we should worship with all our hearts and mind and soul and strength. The mind is part of it.

And I think this is where I have got to. Yes maybe I, like many others, have moved a little too far away from intimacy in worship. But if there has been any error in my ways, it has been because I have in the past, had an incomplete theology. And the trouble with incomplete theology is that it can lead us astray, leave us flapping in the wind. My mistake was in thinking that I needed to find balance between intimacy and proclamation, when actually I should have understood that they were inextricably entwined.

So here is my plea. Let’s continue to sing songs of intimacy. Let’s continue to sing songs of proclamation. Let’s embrace God, and let’s bow down before Him. But let us continue, as worship leaders, to grow in our theology and understanding as we do it. And this should leave us, not on the middle ground of balance, but on the solid ground of truth.

Description

2007-11-02T18:38:00.000Z

description: a statement, picture in words, or account that describes

Worship describes.

Worship describes the symphony of praise from the whole of creation
and the faintest of prayers from a heartbroken mother;
Worship describes the resounding shout of praise from a gathered congregation
and the hidden act of kindness to a person in distress;
Worship describes a glorious encounter with the God of the heavens
and the reality of a conversation with a dying relative;
Worship describes the very real presence of God’s hope and light in the world
and the harshness of living with pain and discomfort and injustice;
Worship describes the joys, colours and harmonies of the mountain peaks
and the hard slog of every-day servant-hood and service;
Worship describes the way I speak to my daughters
and the way I instil a sense of value and identity into their lives;
Worship describes the way I listen to my wife
and the way I share my hopes and dreams and frustrations;
Worship describes the way I rejoice in my success
and the way I put the needs of others before my own;
Worship describes the lavishness of my devotion towards God
and the stewardship of the resources He puts my way;
Worship describes the first breath of a new-born child
and the final cry of a homeward-bound saint;
Worship describes the triumphant song of the victorious warrior
and the humble confession of the contrite heart;
Worship describes the thankfulness for the miracle of life
and the acceptance of a life littered with disappointment;
Worship describes the intentions of my heart as I speak
and the intensity of my prayers as I remain silent;
Worship describes the perseverance of the tear-strewn journey
and the peace in my soul when I arrive;

Worship describes

me?

ready meal

2007-10-27T12:13:00.000+01:00

ready meal: prepackaged, frozen or chilled meal which usually comes in an individual package. It requires very little preparation and contains all the elements for a single-serving meal.

Is it just me?

Am I the only one who never wants to see, read, watch or listen to another ‘resource’ in my whole life.

Maybe it is just me. But the word ‘resource’ now just leaves me twitching, stressed, running for cover in need of a large whiskey. It used to mean something that helped us, taught us, inspired us. Unfortunately it now, more often than not, means something that confuses us, disappoints us, lines the pockets of some-of-us. We are largely confused by the sheer quantity-of-it, disappointed by the poverty-of-it, and suspicious of who is gaining-because-of-it. If I look back over recent years, I am struggling to think of more than a handful of books, cds or dvds that really really helped me in my role as a worship pastor. So much so that I've almost stopped buying and reading most populist Christian books, and stopped listening to most mainstream worship cd's (even the one's I happen to be on), and now positively avoid the dvd-of-the-course-in-ten-easy-steps. And probably I'm missing out. But actually I generally find more substance in a Jeremy Clarkson book or a Yes Minister DVD. Sorry.

O.K. so maybe you think I’m going a bit over-the-top-with-it this time. And I probably am.

But I am slightly confused.

Our bookshelves are full of more books than ever before. Our cd cases are filled with more worship cd’s than ever before. You can’t blink without another DVD being produced. As the church in the west, we are in total resource overload. And yet I have to ask the question ‘is the church better off?’. And I need alot of convincing that it is. My observation, generally, is that whereas it’s never been easier to find a book, cd or dvd for our own particular circumstances, it’s never been harder to get anybody to lead or serve the work of the church. Whereas we find it easy to get someone to buy a book, cd, or dvd, we find it hard to get them to give money to fund the vision of the church. We are supremely over-resourced in terms of materials, but supremely under-resourced in terms of people and money.

That’s why I’m confused.

Is it really just me?

Maybe it’s just another symptom of a largely consumeristic church culture.

Anyway, my point is this. I think we spending too much time trying to resource people, and not enough time trying to lead people. We are teaching people to stack their shelves with stuff of every size shape and colour imaginable but at the same time we are breading a generation of people who just don’t seem to be able to think for themselves, create things for themselves, lead themselves.

It’s like, instead of teaching people how to cook, we’re creating an ever increasing number of ready meals for people to nourish themselves with. You know, those meals that, whatever supermarket you get them from, they all taste pretty much the same - meals that probably have roughly the same ingredients, use approximately the same recipe, are more than likely all made by the same producers, but then just packaged differently and sold as ‘own brand’.

Just like most worship cd’s really.

Whoops! There’s the ultra-cynical Bennetts emerging again. I must try and control it.

There’s that old phrase ‘give some one a bowl of rice and they will eat for a day, but teach them how to grow rice and they will eat for a lifetime.’ Well in terms of worship songs, maybe we could re-write that as ‘give someone a song and they will have something fresh to sing for a season, but teach them how to write songs and they will have something fresh to sing for a life time’. If we resource people, we give them a range of options to choose from, depending on their circumstances. If we raise up leaders, we teach people to listen to God, to interpret the community and culture around them, and be creative for themselves.

Now don’t get me wrong. There are some very original, theological, thoughtful, helpful books out there. There are some incredible songwriters producing some wonderful songs and music. I’m not sure about DVD’s, but otherwise some of this stuff is truly inspiring. But there is also a huge amount out there that just seems to either recycle the same ideas, or appears to have no connection to the real life of doing church.

But rather than just rant, let me try and suggest some things that could make a difference. Let me just ‘put them out there’ and see if they resonate with anyone. My focus is really on the whole worship industry, but I think these things could equally apply to other arenas.

Firstly, the business models that those of us involved in producing resources use may need to be adjusted. If our business model has, at it’s heart, a need to create new product just to be viable, then it may be the wrong business model. In my mind, this means that generally we are too driven by the need to produce something - anything - rather than the need to be responding to fresh and new moves of the Spirit.

Secondly, and this is related, we need more of the intellectual and creative ownership of resources to be based within the church. It doesn’t mean that there is no room for strong partnerships between churches and distributors or service providers. But in my mind, this move would bring a creative edge back to many of our songs, books and cds. There would then be less pressure for writers to conform to a standard, other than the one that God is laying on their hearts.

Thirdly, we need to amend the way we train and invest in people, which needs to be far more relational based, and far less program based. Too often I fear we are teaching that one size fits all. The big worship conferences have their place, but I fear that, whereas they may be increasing our general skill levels, they are maybe not producing more creative, risk taking leaders.

And then I think we may be surprised. I think we may find that the baby is capable of a whole lot more than we currently give it credit for.

Anyway. I Must go. Top Gear is just about to start, and my Tesco Tikka Massala is just about done.

real

2007-10-20T18:16:00.000+01:00

real: true; not merely ostensible, nominal, or apparent; existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary; genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic; unfeigned or sincere;

Time and time again when I’m discussing issues about worship, I come across this plea: ‘we just want our worship to be real’.

Real.

It’s got a nice ring to it, hasn’t it?

And everything in us wants to agree. Surely our worship has to be real. It can’t be anything else. It certainly shouldn’t be false. It certainly shouldn’t be imaginary. If worship is worship, it has to be authentic, unfeigned, sincere, genuine.

Real.

But what does ‘real’ really mean? What does real worship look like, sound like, feel like?

Well, let’s start with some things that real worship is probably not.

Firstly, real worship is probably not about a certain style of music. Even if it totally floats our boat. We all have likes and dislikes, and musical likes and dislikes are some of the most passionate we come across. And we may find certain styles help us to worship more than others. We may also find some styles of worship are more accessible to those outside the church. And that certainly is important. But certain styles of music in themselves do not make worship more real.

Secondly, real worship doesn’t depend on our state of mind, our emotional circumstances, our social status. Worship is not more real because we happen to be sick or suffering, living in a deprived area, or going through a heartbreaking personal tragedy. It may hurt more. But does that make it more real? I’m not sure it does. Conversely I don’t know if you have ever watched some of those satelite religious channels where the band is awesome, the choir all look like models, dressed in sparkly and black uniforms, the songs are all up-tempo and happy-clappy, and every one has that o-so-perfect smile on their faces. Have you, like me, ever questioned the authenticity of their worship? But actually, I’m not sure that we can - certainly not just on the basis that ‘surely no-one can be that perfect’ mentality. Just because a bunch of people are that happy does not make their worship unreal, does it?

Thirdly, I’m not convinced that worship is more real purely because the band is cut back, more acoustic, more ‘sit in a field of mud round a camp fire and earthy’. And likewise, it’s not more real because you have a ten piece band, a 100 strong choir, the psalm drummers and the national philharmonic orchestra. All of these may be appropriate in certain circumstances. All may speak of God in different ways. But I’m not convinced that either in itself makes the worship more real.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not just trying to be clever here. I’m certainly not trying to undermine people’s creativity. Anything but that - in fact, one of the biggest challenges to the church generally is how to release more creativity - not only in worship - but in the widest possible activity of kingdom life.

But what I am saying is that many of these things in themselves do not make our worship real. And in fact my biggest, biggest frustration is that, so often when I hear people say 'I don't think that the worship is real’, what I am really hearing them say is ‘I don’t like that worship’. So often I sense a consumerism underlying a plea for realism, and that is so disappointing.

Let’s have a look at some worshippers in the Bible. David for example. accompanying the ark back to Jerusalem. He engages in a very extravagant act of worship. It cost lots of money. It was very public. And when you read the Psalms, you don’t get the impression this is something necessarily in character. Elsewhere David comes over as very intense, thoughtful and, ultimately, broken. Maybe this act of worship was more reflective of what God required than what David naturally would act like?

Let’s look at Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his son as an act of worshipful obedience. Hardly easy. Hardly fashionable. But he was willing to go with what God required.

Let’s look at Mary. Worshipping with tears, pouring perfume over the feet of Jesus. Hardly dignifying. Hardly financially prudent. But judging from Jesus’ words, seemingly that was what was required of her in that moment.

And let’s hear the words of Jesus, who says that the Father seeks those who will worship in spirit and truth. Those who will worship with all that they are and with all that they have. People who don’t take themselves too seriously, but take God very seriously.

It seems to me that real worship means living with our hearts set on God - loving mercy, acting with justice, walking humbly - and then engaging in worship with our hearts set on God: singing to Him with all we have, singing to Him because of all we know and have seen of Him. Regardless of personal circumstances, regardless of the style of music, regardless or the size of the band. And we who are mature in Christ should be those taking the lead in this. We should be the ones that should worship with all that we are whatever is on offer in terms of style or variety. We should be the ones who are worshipping with everything we have, regardless of our own personal circumstances.

Yes we should grow in creativity. Yes we should be relevant. Yes we should be accessible. Of course we should. But no amount or creativity, relevance or accessibility will in itself make our worship real.

There’s someone in our congregation at Trinity Cheltenham who comes every week to church, and throws themselves into every song, sometimes with exuberance, sometimes on their knees, sometimes with hands held high, sometimes with tears flowing, often with a huge smile on their face. Outside Sundays this person talks to people on the street about Jesus, and then serves some of the poorest communities you can find around the world. And then this person comes back to church and sings again.

For me, this is worship.

Real worship.

together

2007-10-13T15:06:00.000+01:00

together: into or in one gathering; in union; into or in relationship; into or in a condition of unity; at the same time; simultaneously; in cooperation; with united action; conjointly; with mutual action

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25)

Together, together, together everyone. Together, together, come on lets have some fun. Together, we’re there for each other every time. Together together come on lets do this right. Everyone is special in their own way. We make each other strong. We’re not the same. We’re different in a good way. Together's where we belong. (High School Musical 2006)

It seems that even in the earliest years of the church, people sometimes gave up on coming together to worship, and needed encouraging, needed reminding of the huge gift that gathered worship is to the church. And we are no different today. The pressures maybe different, the culture is almost certainly very different. But the fact remains that, as ever, the desire to come together to worship in church today is sometimes under threat. Not so much due to political pressure, or persecution (though this may come one day), but through something far, far more dangerous and potentially terminal: a misguided theology.

There are some elements of the church that are currently, ever so subtly, backing off from attaching the highest of priority to meeting together for worship. It’s wrapped up in some ever so appealing language promoting community or mission, but it’s inference is worrying. It can give the impression that joining together and singing is not really so important after all. And this makes me sad. Because when a church comes together, a church that is made up of a diverse range of people from a wide range of backgrounds and a huge variety of personal circumstances - when that church comes together and joins with one voice in singing songs to God, they are making one of the most important, counter cultural statements imaginable. In a society that is increasingly individualistic and consumeristic, that statement is ‘we are better off together’.

I understand why some are devaluing worship in the life of the church. We all desire to be relevant to our culture. We all have a huge longing to see our friends, our neighbours, our work-mates come to know Jesus. And we are slightly afraid that this thing called worship may put them off. And the concept of a worship ‘service’ feels slightly, well, old-fashioned. Certainly not very post-modern. I remember some time ago when a whole load of our friends came to the morning service when one of our daughters was being dedicated. When I got up to lead worship - singing - I suddenly felt slightly exposed. I could sort of see how they would relate to the dedication, and the kidz actions, and even the prayers. But the singing? In a very real sense I felt uncomfortable at expecting my friends to do this.

I do understand those who are backing off.

I understand why they think this way.

But I don’t agree with them.

When people come together to worship, they experience the manifest presence of God, they hear the voice of God, they see Him break into impossible situations, they see people come to know Him for the very first time, and they themselves become satisfied as children of God.

Yes, I know that worship is a lifestyle. Yes I know that we need to act justly day by day. Yes I know that we need to give ourselves wholeheartedly in service. Yes I know we need to develop ways of expressing community. All these things are hugely important. But it is misguided to say that they can in any way replace gathered worship: The truth of the matter is that God still wants us to come together and sing.

It is a command.

But it’s a command that, like every command from God, has a heart of love at it’s centre. A heart of love that knows who we were created to be, and knows what we need for this life. God has designed us with a deep hunger to worship Him, encounter Him, be intimate with Him. And He has given us this gift - singing together - to help us do just that.

I passionately believe that coming together to worship as his people - yes after living a lifestyle of worship, acting justly, serving wholeheartedly, living in community - but coming together as his people to worship, to encounter Him together, is fundamental to our identity and purpose as his church.

It maybe that our gathered worship needs refreshing, making it more accessible, making it more relevant. The bathwater may need changing in this respect every now and then. But the baby will begin to die if we throw it out altogether.

Because we are stronger, better together.

local

2007-10-06T18:36:00.001+01:00

local: pertaining to or characterized by place or position in space; spatial; pertaining to, characteristic of, or restricted to a particular place or particular places; pertaining to a city, town, or small district rather than an entire state or country

I was chatting to a musician friend a couple of years ago. He played in the band of a worship leader who often travelled the world leading worship. For one particular event he travelled with the aforesaid worship leader to Australia. The flight for the band took a whole day and night and cost a whole lot of money. Then one evening during a time of worship my friend said this thought came to mind:

‘surely someone up the road could have done this’

And he’s got a point.

We are dominated in our world and in our culture by internationalism; whether in business, in entertainment, in politics. Networking tools such as facebook mean that we can keep in touch with people all over the world at the click of a mouse. Many high streets in many countries, especially in the most developed parts of the worlds, look quite similar, and are often dominated by the international brands of Macdonalds, Next and Starbucks. (Although actually, Starbucks is a specific gift from God to worship leaders, and so probably stands out on itself as acceptable and honourable). And in recent years, the church has seen the rise to prominence of a number of worship leaders that also have an international presence.

Now I have to say at this point that this isn’t one of those ‘if I can’t be an international worship leader, then no one should be allowed to’ sort of rants. In fact, personally, I can’t think of anything worse than travelling around the world on a cramped tour-bus, losing sleep, eating badly, playing and singing night after night, venue after venue to the hoarding masses. The fact that I can’t sing in tune and my guitar playing is really pants, so no one in their right mind would ask me to anyway has absolutely nothing to do with it either. And I also have to say I have been significantly helped by some very high-profile worship leaders along the way, for which I am truly thankful. To have had one-on-one time with worship leaders who have such a greater wealth of experience than me has been awesome. To observe, even be-it ‘from afar’ worship leaders with considerably more skill and anointing than me, has helped inspire and urge me on in my own worship leading. I would count many of them as worship leaders with an apostlistic gifting. And I hope, that for many years to come, I will still be able to benefit from them in this way. Our church sings their songs and it’s worship is enriched because of them

And yet.

And yet there is something about the growth of internationalism in our worship that also leaves me slightly dissatisfied. You know, I think you could go to most churches around the world and still expect to sing the songs that you know, with bands all sounding much the same. One of my good friends, David Gate, calls it ‘McWorship’. In one sense it’s great to be able to get a sense of unity in the church in this way. But after a while, I just feel like I want things to be different. To be a bit more fresh.

A bit more local.

So let’s step sideways for a moment.

I love seeing my two young girls develop their creativity. Elizabeth, my eldest (actually, she will get cross with me if I call her Elizabeth, rather than Lizzy as she now like to be known) plays the flute. She recently passed grade 2 and is now moving on to grade 4. Just recently I’ve noticed a change in her attitude. We used to have to tell her what to do, note by note. Sit with her and work through each piece of music. We used to have to explain what a crescendo was, and a staccato and so on. But now, she is doing much more of it all herself. She takes much more of the initiative. And that makes me proud, because it shows she is growing up. In fact generally in life I am finding that Lizzy is less and less likely to take my own views and likes and dislikes on for herself without challenging them. She is growing her own character and mind and heart and soul. Sometimes that is frustrating, in that part of me longs to have a daughter who just gazes longingly into my eyes and hangs off my every word. But it just doesn’t happen. And actually I’m glad. Our lives as a family are so much the richer for her difference. She is growing up, spreading her wings, and beginning to fly.

Growing up, spreading her wings, and beginning to fly.

And this is what my longing is for my church.

My local church.

In a rather unsightly looking set of buildings opposite a car park in the center of Cheltenham.

When I look at the birth of the church in the New Testament, I see the first apostles moving from place to place, planting churches, and encouraging them, before moving on. New churches got ‘the best’ help when they were at their most embryonic, when they were starting out. Over time we see those churches grow and develop, and new local leaders take on more and more local responsibility.

As a church here in Cheltenham, we have just sent a group of people into another church in the town which was on it’s last legs. The vision for that church is to grow, to raise up it’s own leaders, to make a huge impact in that area of the town. Initially, as the ‘mother church’ we are having to invest and support and encourage. They are getting a significant investment of our time and resources and people - some of the best we can offer. Over time, whilst links will always be strong, our involvement will surely diminish as that church spreads it’s own wings and begins to fly. It’s our first (but hopefully not last) venture such as this, and I’m sure we have, and will make many mistakes along the way. But I sense that we are bumbling, in our own imperfect way, into something that resonates, al-be-it faintly, with New-Testament times.

Someone, who was involved in running a conference, once said to me that hopefully, a few years down the line when the conference got big enough, it would be able to attract higher profile worship leaders, but for the moment they would have to make do with more local unknown people. And I sort of see what they were saying.

But something about this feels up-side-down.

Surely the aim of a church or conference or whatever, over time, should be to have less and less reliance on the ‘high profile’ itinerant leader or worship leader. Surely it’s aim shouldn’t be to get strong enough so that it can attract the ‘high profile’ people, but that it becomes strong enough so that it doesn’t need them so much. And surely this is what apostlistic ministry is about: not to develop resources for the church - providing an ever increasing volume of book, songs and cd’s - but to develop leaders of the church, so that they can do it themselves.

So it can become truly local.

Grown up.

It can then place more emphasis on developing it’s own creative mind, heart and soul. Write songs just to serve it’s own congregation. Record albums just to serve it’s own membership. Write books that speak into the lives of their own communities. Spread it’s wings and fly.

beauty

2007-09-27T23:02:00.000+01:00

beauty: the quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.

Approximately 60 seconds after I proposed to Susie we were in the jewellers shop buying the ring. I thought it was quite a quick decision, really, when you consider how much we were going to spend and considering how long the ring was going to have to last. But then, as Susie has explained to me many times since, I had been ridiculously dull and slow and hesitant in asking, and so she had had many weeks to do her research. We brought the ring, and it now rests on the third finger of her left hand and reminds me of the day that I made the second best decision of my life.

My wife is from Ireland. I love her, and my two girls and the life we share together. She is gorgeous, and thoughtful, and far more godly than I am. The ring we bought that day was a gold ring, with an emerald, and two small diamonds - one on either side. And I love the choice she made when she picked it out. It is a beautiful ring. But beautiful as it is, it will never outshine the beauty of the one who wears it.

Every now and then, you come across someone, normally in the celebrity world, who has just got engaged, and whose ring is under the spotlight. We find out how much it cost, how big it is, how many carats, and we are led to believe that it is the biggest, brightest, shiniest, most expensive ring of it’s kind, and how that means it is perfectly fitting for the celebrity who wears it. Now I truly think that no ring, however expensive, could ever outshine my wife. I’m sure every husband would say the same. But I do think that there would become a point when a ring became so big, so significant, so expensive, so consuming of my attention, that it would start to be a distraction.

There is something about the word ‘beauty’ that seems to indicate purity, integrity, a quality that can’t be manufactured or imitated. And in my mind, true beauty comes above all through depth. It is understated but not forceful, pure but impassionable. It shines but doesn’t glare. It speaks of fragility but not weakness, originality but not arrogance. When I sense God shining through people, this is what I think I see.

Beauty.

Not a brash, pretty, attention seeking attractiveness. But an integrity, a truthfulness, an originality, an understated quality that says far more about the One shining though them, than about the individual themselves.

Beauty.

Now I’m slightly worried about all of this. I’m worried that I may lose credibility amongst my mates. Because I actually want to encourage us worship leaders to aspire to the quality of beauty in our lives - firstly through a closeness to God, and secondly through an intentional arrangement of our actions so as to give maximum possibility that God alone will be glorified. You see one of the dangers I face as a worship leader is that I can get carried away with achieving technical excellence, or recording a great album, or producing outstanding visual presentations. I can start to marvel at the quality of my vocal improvisations, or my clever way of transitioning between songs. But whereas all these things are highly commendable, they can, if not handled carefully, become a distraction. They can come over as slightly forced, slightly glaring, slightly arrogant. And then if I’m not careful, they will start to take people’s attention away from the One who is true beauty. And even if we distract people for only a moment, the danger is that we snatch a little of the glory that God is due, and claim it for ourselves.

One of my heroes in worship leading is a friend called Scott Underwood. The very first time I led worship at New Wine, Scott guided me though it. I remember the first night. I was nearly physically sick with nervousness as we sat in a side room preparing to lead worship. And as we sat there, him changing his guitar strings and chatting comfortably, and me biting my fingernails and fretting stressfully, he said this to me: “Neil, our job as worship leaders is just to get people to focus on Jesus, and then leave them there as long as possible”

It’s an incredible thing, worship. And it's an incredible, humbling responsibility we have to help people connect with, and gaze upon the Beautiful One. Let’s not get in the way.

tolerance

2007-09-21T09:19:00.000+01:00

tolerance: the allowance of the existence, presence, practice, or act of without prohibition or hindrance

There’s a saying that I came across a few years ago, a phrase that has really stuck with me, one that I have found relevant in a multitude of circumstances and situations. And it’s this: ‘You deserve what you tolerate’

You deserve what you tolerate.

It’s quite an uncomfortable phrase isn’t it?

It sort of puts quite a lot of emphasis on us, on our willingness to make decisions and bear the consequences of them. And it’s also not that black and white. It seems to suggest that there is a whole range of options for us in any situation, none that maybe particularly right or wrong, but all of which bring with them a range of consequences. And we don’t like that sort of responsibility really.

If, when she has some spare time, I let my daughter watch telly for too long rather than go out and play with her friends in the street, then it may make life slightly easier for me, and for her, for that moment. She has a nice time watching Doctor Who, and I get a bit of peace and quiet allowing me to create another dubious blog article.

Now actually, there is nothing wrong with watching TV. And despite what many psychologists tell us these day, I reckon it’s quite O.K. to watch it for a few hours at a time without becoming totally relationally dysfunctional. I do it from time to time. (Ok so I’ve set myself up perfectly there...). And I also think that it’s O.K. to let your children watch T.V. for a few hours at a time occasionally. Let’s face it, after a week at school, numerous children’s clubs and homework, who wouldn’t let their kidz slouch on the sofa for a while in front of the box on a Saturday morning? But if I let my daughter watch it too long, too often, a few things happen. Firstly she begins to believe that this is what her spare time is for. Secondly, it becomes harder and harder for me to change her view of spare time, should I want to. And thirdly she finds it all the more difficult to get back into the ‘playing with friends in the street’ mode. Which means that when I ask her to turn off the T.V. and do something more interesting, I have a battle on my hands. I have made a decision, to which there are consequences. I have tolerated something, and I deserve the result.

I deserve what I tolerate.

I got this press release on e-mail recently. I have removed the actual names.

"One of the world's leading contemporary hymn writers will return to the place that inspired his latest album - the highly successful XXX (some concert venue), in XXX (somewhere in the UK). XXX (the worship leader) - who goes back to the venue this autumn for XXX (a conference) - named his new studio recording XXX (the latest album), partly in recognition of this venue. For it was there that he presented some of his latest material to a massive 8,500-strong audience. The impact of that moment was remarkable. Since then, XXX (the worship leader) and his fellow worship leaders have been numbered among the likes of Coldplay and Snow Patrol for drawing such big crowds."

Now we could discuss endlessly the ‘right-ness’ or ‘wrong-ness’ of using such language such as this. We could talk about the need to make commercial decisions and make sure we are being wise stewards of money invested in albums and so on. And actually I’ve got some strong opinions on all of this - but that’s maybe for another time. But even if we can get to the point of justifying the use of such language (which I doubt - I mean let’s face it, when has worship been about ‘presenting material’??), there are still, very probably, some consequences. In fact, every time we are tolerant of something, there are consequences to bear.

Every time we put an album out into the market place with a big picture of a good looking worship leader on the front, we have to spend more time explaining to our youth that worship isn’t about giving profile and adulation to a gifted individual, but about giving profile and adulation to a Holy God.

We deserve what we tolerate.

Each time we put on a worship concert with an international worship leader, we have to work hard to re-establish in our local church that worship is primarily about the way we respond to God in our hearts rather than an experience delivered by a skilled musical performance.

We deserve what we tolerate.

Each time we put out a CD that claims to be ‘the best ever worship songs’ we have to work harder to convince songwriters in our own local churches that it is serving your own congregation, writing songs for your own local church that counts, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t ever get a song on a worship album.

We deserve what we tolerate.

Every time we put out a ‘live’ worship album that has had every wrong note, tempo inaccuracy and out of tune harmony removed and the sound of any congregation taken out from it, we have to work harder to explain to our congregations that worship is more to do with the united and untidy song of worshippers, rather than the neat and polished sound of a band and worship leader.

We deserve what we tolerate.

Every time we put a press release out that talks about a worship leader as being a draw for big crowds, then we have to work harder to re-establish that it is God alone who is due glory, and honour, and worship in this world.

We deserve what we tolerate.

It’s not that any of these things may be entirely wrong in themselves. It’s just that we have to bear the consequences of our tolerance of them. I listen to worship CD’s, even ones with pretty pictures of pretty worship leaders on the front. I like some live worship cd’s. Especially the ones with me on them (O.K. that was a joke). And I reckon I could go to the odd ‘worship concert’ and enjoy it. But the problem is that all theses things are becoming so high profile, so common, so much the focus of attention, that many people are now beginning to think that this is what worship is all about.

And it isn’t.

I had a sabbatical a couple of years ago. It was a hugely generous gesture on the part of my church for which I am so grateful. Whilst on my sabbatical I managed to visit a few churches that I had heard about. And I wanted to go and see for myself what God was doing there. One of these churches was a large church in London. The presentation of the worship was, in all honestly, nearly as good as any secular gig I’ve been to (O.K. so I haven’t been to one since 1981). It had great lighting, a very good band, and awesome visual presentations. I have to say I loved it in so many ways. I had no problem with any of the ‘glitz and glamour’. And I truly encountered God and was able to worship Him with some abandon.

Was the whole thing riddled with theological inconsistencies? Yes, I think it was. Did it fully embody the values I adhere to in worship and church? No, it certainly didn’t. Would I feel happy taking my children there and be comfortable that it was a good part of their spiritual formation? No, I wouldn’t. Am I happy that the place was full of young people who could otherwise have been in the pubs and clubs that day? Yes I am. Do I think that the worship team were operating with a heart for God and a desire to honour Him? Yes, I do. Could I worship God myself? Absolutely yes.

You see it’s not that easy. It’s not black and white. It would be so much easier if it was. But more and more I’m discovering that leadership is not so much about choosing between black and white, but about searching my way through an ever increasing number of shades of grey.

Looking at it one way, you could say, "Anything goes. Because of God's immense generosity and grace, we don't have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster." But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well. (1 Corinthians 10:23, The Message)

I don’t want to ‘just get by’. I want to live well. But more than this, I want the people, the church that I help lead to live well too. And so for me, the question that we, as leaders, need to be asking is not “Is all of this ok?” but “Is all of this the best way?”.

sing

2007-09-18T12:04:00.000+01:00

sing: to utter with musical modulations of the voice; to escort or accompany with singing; to proclaim enthusiastically; to bring, send, put, etc., with or by singing; to chant or intone; to tell or praise in verse or song.

We all have our songs, our heart cries to God. We sing them in our cars, our homes, on the way to work. We sing them through pain and through joy. Sometimes they are audible and beautiful to the human ear. Often they may be silent, or lack musical expertise. But to God they are all treasured, and they are at the heart of the way He wishes to relate to His people: God Himself sings over us, and we sing back, responding as best we can to His overtures of love.

But so often our individual songs can feel inadequate, our acts of praise can feel isolated and faint. We may feel limited in our ability to articulate what we want to say to God, frustrated by the lack of colour in our words, disappointed by any sense of immediate impact in the Kingdom. However precious to God our own individual voices are we long to be part of a greater song. And that is why, since the birth of the church, worshippers have sought each other out. We find that when our individual heart cries come together, when our personal descriptions of God’s character as He has revealed Himself to us combine, they produce something altogether stronger, louder and more courageous.

Some weeks ago I was enjoying being part of the congregation, loving the worship being led by one of my team, excited by hearing the passion and enthusiasm of the worshippers around me, and through it all, encountering God myself as I sang. And then just for a few moments I stopped singing. And out of the combined sound of the 500 hundred or so singers that were there that evening, I began to hear some individual songs stand out. Behind me to my right I heard someone proclaiming God’s power and glory. Just behind me I sensed a more painful cry, a lament of someone struggling through difficulty. Another voice seemed to be pouring out pure love and devotion to Jesus. They were all singing roughly the same words, and nearly the same tune. But the different heart cries of those individual voices shone through, and it was as though a bigger, more glorious, more beautiful picture of God was being painted before my eyes. And I found myself being urged on to sing louder, to lift my hands higher, to rejoice with more faith and maybe slightly more understanding.

I don’t know what you think a worship leader is trying to do. For me it is clearly not about pushing the next great song, about performing to people, about speaking clever words over people, or meeting album sales, or impressing people with technical ability.

But for me, the role of the worship leader is to draw together all the individual voices and intentions in the room, to gather together all the heart cries of all the people present -

those who are going through good times;
those who are hurting;
those who have just lost a loved one;
those for whom the very act of opening their mouths to sing that day causes pain;
those who have never known God work so powerfully in their lives that week;
those who feel God is a thousand miles away;
those who are dealing with a terminal illness;
those who are going through a relationship break up;
those who are struggling because they aren’t married;
those who are excited because they have just got married;
those who’s children are causing them pain;
those who may have come to know Jesus only that day.

The role of the worship leader when he plugs in his guitar and counts in the band is to gather all those voices together. And whereas in isolation each one expresses some small part of God’s character, some small piece of the picture of who God is, gathered together they give a far more glorious expression of His wonder and completeness:

the Creator;
the Eternal Father;
the Faithful One;
the Source Of Life;
the Comforter;
the Sovereign King;
the Healer;
the Saviour;
the Redeemer.

And suddenly those voices that may have previously felt somewhat inadequate begin to find their strength.

I’ve often wondered what Paul means when he urges us to ‘speak to one another with psalms hymns and spiritual songs’. The thought of turning to my neighbour in church on a Sunday and singing some sort of cheesy ‘Jesus loves you’ ditty leaves me cold. In fact I remember singing a song, many years ago, which had the line ‘Jesus stand among us at the meeting of our eyes’ and being encouraged by the worship leader to look around at my mates in the congregation whilst I sung it. This sort of thing doesn’t really work for me. But what does work is finding my own feeble voice joining together with many other feeble voices, and being encouraged and inspired and urged on in my worship. What does work for me is having my picture of God enlarged by the expressions of worship in the voices around me.

But that’s not the end of it. As we saints on earth gather and sing our songs together in what may be a few short moments, we join with the multitudes of saints in heaven, with the thousands on thousands of angels singing a song that goes through all eternity. They sing ‘worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise. Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.’

Now I’m not sure that I would recognise an angel if it stood up in front of me and slapped me round the face. I’m a little dull like that. But every now and then as I worship, it’s as though a little window of my heart opens up, and i get a faint glimpse of what may be happening in the heavens. Every now and then we feel the breeze a little stronger on our faces and we know we are part of something much more powerful and glorious than our earthly status allows us to fully see.

But even though we may not see it all, we know that as us saints below begin to join with the saints above, not only does the song seem to get even stronger, but the powers of darkness begin to be defeated. The weaponry of the evil one begins to be dismantled because the people of God are saying ‘whatever the circumstances we find ourselves in, we won’t let that stop us praising God’. They are saying ‘God He rules, God He reigns’. And then God begins to shine brighter - the very songs that express our wonder of Him reflect His glory back to Him. And then we see more of Him, and we encounter Him in greater power. People who have come into the church for the very first time encounter God for the very first time, fall on their knees, and proclaim Him Lord.

This is the true mystery, and the crowning glory, of worship. In the same moment that God meets the broken hearted and gives them peace, meets the weary and gives them rest, meets the hungry and satisfies them, meets those in pain and gives them hope, meets the downtrodden and gives them dignity; in the same moment God shows His Fatherhood to these people in a tender and compassionate way, His awesome power is released into the most fierce battle in the universe: the battle over lost souls, the battle of light and darkness; the battle of good and evil.

And all because we decided to come to church that day and sing.

(thanks to Brian Howell and Naomi Lippett for their help in putting this article together)

presence

2007-09-13T17:25:00.000+01:00

presence:

the state or fact of being present, as with others or in a place; attendance or company; immediate vicinity; proximity; the quality or manner of a person's bearing; personal appearance or bearing; of noteworthy appearance or compelling personality; a divine or supernatural spirit felt to be present:

What does the presence of God look like?

in Genesis 1 it hovered over the waters;
in Exodus 3 it was a burning bush;
in Numbers 9 it was a cloud that moved from place to place
in Isaiah 3 it is described as glorious
in Psalm 89 it is described as light
in Hosea 6 it is described as sweet spring rain
in Naham 1 the earth trembled at it
in Psalm 5 the arrogant couldn’t stand in it
in Acts 10 people listened to the voice of God in it
in Isaiah 26 people in agony cried out in it
in Leviticus 9 and 10 God’s fire came out of it
in Psalm 9 nations were judged in it
in 1 Thesselonians 3 people found joy in it
in Joshua 18 and 19 people made big decisions in it
in Psalm 18 hailstones and thunderbolts flew out from it
in 1 John 3 people found rest in it
in Psalm 41 those with integrity were allowed to remain in it

Samuel grew up in it

in Psalm 90 people were convicted of their sins by it
in Deuteronomy 27 people rejoiced in it
in Jeremiah 23 the disobedient were thrown from it
in Luke 1 the angel Gabriel stood in it and spoke of good news
in Deuteronomy 19 disputes were settled by men standing within it
in 2 Kings 17 those who worshipped false idols were removed from it
in Hosea 6 the injured and wounded were revived in it
in Genesis 27 people blessed other people in it
in Ezekiel 46 people worshipped in it
in Deuteronomy 4 people were led by it
in Deuteronomy 18 people served in it
in 1 Chronicles 29 people ate and drank in it with great joy
in 1 Thessalonians 3 people's hearts were strengthened in it
in 2 Chronicles 6 people made their requests to God in it
in Psalm 31 people found shelter in it
in Psalm 16 people found pleasure in it

John had the dream to end all dreams in it

in Deuteronomy 12 people brought their gifts into it
in Deuteronomy 16 people made sacrifices in it
in 2 Peter 2 angels watched what they said in it
in 2 Chronicles 20 people cried out in distress in it
in Deuteronomy 29 people made promises in it
in Lamenations 2 people poured out their hearts in it
in 2 Chronicles 34 God listened to the cries of his people in it
in Psalm 139 David found it would be everywhere he went
in 1 Chorinthians the unbelievers fell down and worshipped because of it
in Habakkuck 2 people were silent before it
in 2 Samuel 6 David danced with abandon before it.

In Psalm 84 we learn that a moment in it is better than anything else the world has to offer.

And one day all the saints will worship in it.

Forever.

How exciting is that?

When we come together to worship, we expect that we will meet with God. And when that happens, we all have our idea of what that looks like. And maybe that is a problem. Maybe we need to relax those ideas. Increase our expectation that he will meet us, but be more open to what things will look like when he does.

treasure

2007-09-11T20:10:00.000+01:00

treasure: [verb] to retain carefully; to regard or treat as precious; cherish

guard what has been entrusted to your care (1 Tim 6:20)

My life is littered with the precious things God has entrusted to me. My family, my home, my friends, my Avalon guitar. And one of the things God has entrusted me with is the leading of worship for my church. And I have come to treasure it.

Of course, I know it’s not me, it is God working through me. I know it’s not my ministry it is God’s ministry. And I know that I am only entrusted with it for as long as God deems that it is beneficial to his purposes. But while he entrusts me with it I will look after it, cherish it, guard it, retain it carefully, treat it as precious.

Treasure it.

But this type of treasuring means holding onto it lightly. In fact, it probably only continues to have power whilst I hold onto it with the gentlest of pressure. Clasp it, and I risk suffocating it, risk it becoming ineffectual. Hold onto it too tightly and it will soon start to take on the form on a idol, stealing the glory that God alone is due.

And as a worship leader myself, I need to know that this gift that I treasure is entirely for God’s glory. Any desire to bring glory, or reputation, or adulation onto myself is not treasuring it, it is exploiting it. In fact it is in the complete disregard for my own personal gain that I display the greatest level of treasuring, and that God gets the greatest measure of Glory.

God requires us to treasure what he has entrusted to us. Not seek earthly treasure from it.

And one of the things I am learning is that, because I am involved in something that has such huge potential to bless the church, I need to be so so careful with it. I need to try and be whiter than white as I operate in it. I need to seek to minimise the chance that anything I do could be seen as self-seeking or self-promoting through it. The high profile that comes with it demands a proportionately greater level of thought and care. And I know I probably fail miserably.

Every time I get preoccupied with the number of cd sales I could make, I stop treasuring my gift and start to idolise it. Every time I hope for a higher place on the CCLI chart for one of my songs, I stop treasuring my gift and start to idolise it. Every time I manoeuvre myself into a place to be asked to lead worship at a particular conference, I stop treasuring my gift and start to idolise it. Every time I say ‘no’ to leading worship at an event purely because it isn’t high profile enough, I stop treasuring my gift and start to idolise it.

I recently bought a new car. Well not entirely new, but nearly new. We inherited a little money, and as our old car was on it’s last legs, we decided to buy something that would last us for a long time. Now you need to know something about me. In my twenties, I was your archetypal bachelor. Playing footfall, going to the football, beers, curry, sports car, the works. Then over the last twenty years this has been slowly chipped away at. I am now married, have 2.4 children (well 2 really - it just seems like more) have a respectable job and live in a three bed semi in a tree lined cul-de-sac. And the purchase of this new car complimented this image perfectly.

Yes, I brought a Mondeo.

Can you believe it? But actually it’s quite a nice car. Jeremy Clarkeson thinks so too, apparently. And when we got it, I decided I needed to really look after it. Clean it regularly, clear out all the rubbish which accumulates remarkably quickly from the aforesaid wife and 2.4 children. And so I do. But my wife, with her ‘holier than thou’ Christian face on, says I am idolising it. I try and explain that I am just looking after it, but it won’t change her mind. She tells all our friends I’m in love with a Mondeo. It’s so hurtful.

It seems that even with a boring family car, it’s really easy to mistake treasuring for idolatry. The line is fine.

And think there is so much that we worship leaders do in the name of worship these days that, despite every good motive on our part, could be perceived as idolatry. We only need to look at some of our marketing, our concert tours, our photos on our albums, our press releases, to see this may be happening. And this gives us a huge problem. Because as soon as we are perceived to be self-seeking we will cease to be able to serve our churches properly.

And maybe the bathwater has got so murky in this respect that the baby has every right to shout ‘foul’.

And maybe what we worship leaders need to do is become a little more faceless, a little more local, a little more in the background, a little more in awe of the one who has entrusted this amazing thing to us.

loss

2007-09-08T13:26:00.000+01:00

loss: detriment, disadvantage, or deprivation from failure to keep, have, or get; something that is lost; the state of being deprived of or of being without something that one has had; death, or the fact of being dead; failure to make good use of something.

I’m quite excited. Next Saturday, one of my songs is being used at an event in Kings College, Cambridge. A 100 strong choir, the organ, the great setting with it’s great acoustics. I would love to be able to go, but it looks like that won’t be possible, as I have a busy week, followed by a busy Sunday, and it looks like Saturday will be my only real family time. Now I’m not telling you about this to self promote myself (well, probably not), I’m telling you because I love to hear that sort of music, to that sort of standard, in that sort of setting. It’s potentially a beautiful sound that can capture our senses and set our hearts on God, and to hear one my songs being used in that way would be incredible.

Now I realise my confession that I like choir and organ music will probably destroy any sense of coolness or street credibility that I like to think I may have had. After all, I am a worship leader, and we’re not meant to like this sort of stuff.

But actually I think that beautiful music such as this has been a sad loss to the wider church. The organ as an instrument is awesome. The range of sounds and tones it can produce is incredible. It has great musical power than can reflect the majesty of God. It has exquisite delicacy that can reflect the gentleness of God. Just one person and one instrument can produce a range of sounds and melodies and harmonies that can gather the largest of congregations together for an encounter with God in song. And a choir seems to mirror and complement the sound of an organ so well.

It’s a loss to the church.

OK, so it still exists in some places and some contexts in the UK. But not a huge number, and certainly not in the depth or quality that used to serve the church in this country for so many years. And sadly, most contexts where it operates to a good standard tend to be civic, state events or cathedrals. [now just for clarification, I am commenting on my own country and context. i don’t know enough about other countries and other contexts to comment]

So why?

Why has something that used to serve the church so incredibly become something that is now viewed by so many people in the church primarily (though not exclusively) as an art form, and has become something that seems to more closely represent the death and the irrelevance of the church, rather than the life and the vitality of the church?

Well one possibility is that God just moved on, as he can do in his sovereignty, ensuring we listen to him and follow his voice. Just as in the desert times. And if that is the case, those of us who are set on his purposes, and seeking his kingdom would probably shrug our shoulders and say ‘that’s life’ and move on with it. Those of us who were organists (and I have been one!) would probably be content to learn the drums, or the guitar, or the pan pipes to help the church worship (ok so I lied about the pan-pipes).

Another possibility is that our culture changed around us, and so the style of music employed by the church with organ and choir became something that failed to capture the hearts of the masses. And so rather than lose touch with our culture, we needed to change our style of music in order to stay relevant. And again, we would probably be sad that the church has had to follow the culture, rather than shape the culture, but would not hang on to the old wineskins for the sake of the mission of the church.

But what if there was another reason.

What if it was our own fault?

What if we had made this music an idol? What if we had made it sacred. What if we had not been a good steward of it’s power. What if we had used it to serve our own purposes rather than serving the church. What if we had tried to steal some glory from the God who won’t share his glory out. What if we had started to do too many international choir tours that promoted ourselves above God. What if our own identities had become so wrapped up in it that we had lost the ability to hear the voice of god.

What if, because of our own stupidity, God just gently, silently, removed his hand of blessing from it?

the baby and the bathwater

2007-09-07T09:59:00.000+01:00

So yes, I have entered the world of blogging.

And because I am 'Mr Cheese' I have a cheesy name for the blog. But there is a point (there always isn't there).

What I want to do on this site is make some observations and write some articles on worship: partly because it's good for (me) us to work hard at articulating truth - so often we blame the inadequacy of language in formulating argument - but actually, language IS the argument - and so we need to quickly get over that excuse - but also because I am beginning to sense God is speaking to the wider church on the whole area of worship (well, he would, wouldn't he. he is God after all, and it is his church). And I think we need to review some of what we are doing and maybe make some tweeks here and there or maybe dismantle some things (either clean up or throw out the bath water) to make sure that this whole worship thing continues to serve the church (the baby)*.

Get it?

I told you it was cheesy.

The other reason I want to start a blog is that I have found myself clogging up other people's blogs with my ranting, and so I want to release them from having their own sites corrupted by my own deliberations. But I do want to point you to a couple of sites of worship leaders who I think are beginning to ask similar questions. 'Daily Health Scare' (David Gate) and NaomiLippett.co.uk (Nae Lippett).

So over the next little while, I'll be looking at some of the issues that I think need either cleaning up or throwing out. They are my own personal views and as my finite understanding of theology is changing all the time as I hopefully understand more about a hugely awesome and infinite God, I may say some things and then change my mind later. But that's because I hope my mind is open. Some of it may make you laugh. Some of it may make you scream. But most of it will probably show just how little I know or understand.

And I don't mind if you disagree. That's what debate is about.

* please note, I have ammended this sentence as one or two people said my original one was confusing. I agree with them.