I'm consolidating! Now you can find my thoughts on Worship Arts Ministry & Leadership in general at.
http://davidlindner.wordpress.com/
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Worship Arts Ministry - Weekend Review
This weekend was pretty good. It was different, but still good. We did scripture reflection as our out of our comfort zone worship, and the coolest part of the weekend for me was seeing people worship in response to the scripture they had been meditating on.
I'm still working on the talking thing. I really want to say what I'm going to say as effectively and efficiently as possible, and be engaging as well.
Here's the order for the weekend, in case you wonder what it is.
Salvation is Here
Tell the World
You Are Good
Easter Invitations Announcements
Comfort Zone Worship
My Savior My God
Fellowship
Sermon
I'll go where you want me to Go
Do you have any thoughts on more comfort zones when it comes to worship?
I'm still working on the talking thing. I really want to say what I'm going to say as effectively and efficiently as possible, and be engaging as well.
Here's the order for the weekend, in case you wonder what it is.
Salvation is Here
Tell the World
You Are Good
Easter Invitations Announcements
Comfort Zone Worship
My Savior My God
Fellowship
Sermon
I'll go where you want me to Go
Do you have any thoughts on more comfort zones when it comes to worship?
Friday, March 07, 2008
Worship Arts Ministry - Comfort Zone Worship - Pt. 3 - Reflection
This coming weekend we're going to be encouraging our congregation to take time for reflection. Last week our Pastor talked about the Gospel. It was an insiders talk on what the content of the Gospel is so that our people will know better how to share it with the people in their sphere of influence.
This week we're going to give people a few minutes to reflect on either one of their own favorite verses of Scripture, the verse for this weeks sermon, or the verse from last weeks sermon. I'm going to encourage them to stop and ponder the verse, to not just read over it quickly, but to stop and think about what the scripture means, what its saying, how they have experienced the truth of that scripture in their lives or how they need to experience the truth of that scripture in their lives. And then to pray that scripture back to God as an act of worship, either thanking God for the truth, thanking God for how the truth has changed their lives or asking God to change their lives with the truth.
The key will be us stopping for a couple of minutes to reflect on a scripture without interruption and allow the truth of the scripture to sink in. This is uncomfortable because it's not something that we do much in church, and because it has the possibility of being awkward.
This week we're going to give people a few minutes to reflect on either one of their own favorite verses of Scripture, the verse for this weeks sermon, or the verse from last weeks sermon. I'm going to encourage them to stop and ponder the verse, to not just read over it quickly, but to stop and think about what the scripture means, what its saying, how they have experienced the truth of that scripture in their lives or how they need to experience the truth of that scripture in their lives. And then to pray that scripture back to God as an act of worship, either thanking God for the truth, thanking God for how the truth has changed their lives or asking God to change their lives with the truth.
The key will be us stopping for a couple of minutes to reflect on a scripture without interruption and allow the truth of the scripture to sink in. This is uncomfortable because it's not something that we do much in church, and because it has the possibility of being awkward.
Worship Arts Ministry - Comfort Zone Worship - Pt 2 - The Foundation of Worship
Well, the result of the first week of our comfort zone worship was great. In fact, the results of the carried on into the next week. At one point in the service I didn't give any specific direction, and people chose to respond on their own in worship.
The second part of this should have been the first part. I decided to talk about how we often make worship something that it's not. At the very foundation of worship is God. It seems silly to have to say this, but it's very true and we often lose sight of this. We make worship about music - we refer to that portion of the service as worship, or we make worship about other elements of the service, offering, communion, prayer, video, etc. Those elements are forms of worship, but the forms are empty if they are the end. The forms are designed to point us to God, but so many of us get caught up on the form and forget that we're supposed to be connecting with God.
The dangerous thing, the uncomfortable thing I had people do was connect with God. For some, maybe they hadn't connected with God all week, and they needed to do so before they continued in worship. For others, they may have been letting the hectic morning keep them from connecting with God, and they need to do that. For others, maybe we needed to ask for forgiveness of a sin in our lives. And maybe for some, we needed to ask God to forgive us for making worship about anything other than Him.
The second part of this should have been the first part. I decided to talk about how we often make worship something that it's not. At the very foundation of worship is God. It seems silly to have to say this, but it's very true and we often lose sight of this. We make worship about music - we refer to that portion of the service as worship, or we make worship about other elements of the service, offering, communion, prayer, video, etc. Those elements are forms of worship, but the forms are empty if they are the end. The forms are designed to point us to God, but so many of us get caught up on the form and forget that we're supposed to be connecting with God.
The dangerous thing, the uncomfortable thing I had people do was connect with God. For some, maybe they hadn't connected with God all week, and they needed to do so before they continued in worship. For others, they may have been letting the hectic morning keep them from connecting with God, and they need to do that. For others, maybe we needed to ask for forgiveness of a sin in our lives. And maybe for some, we needed to ask God to forgive us for making worship about anything other than Him.
Worship Arts Ministry - Dangrous Worship pt1 - Comfort zone worship
So we're in a series right now called Living Dangerously. The foundation for the whole series is that "our comfort zone could be the most dangerous place on earth." We'll be talking about many different areas of our spiritual walk where we tend to get into a comfortable place and stay there.
in our discussions about what topics we should cover, worship was in there. However, after we talked about this for awhile, we decided it would be better to make the first part of the service about getting people out of their comfort zones when it comes to worship.
The first week (actually the second week of the series) we talked about our posture of worship. This is a phrase that I've actually used for quite some time. I've talked about how from time to time we need to put ourselves in a posture of worship that is a sacrifice for us. We need to get out of our comfort zone and make a gesture that signifies our humility towards God. For some of us that meant standing voluntarily, for others it mean sitting in our seats and pondering the words of the songs we were singing and not just singing them haphazardly. For others it meant raising hands, and maybe for some kneeling. The point was to respond to God voluntarily in worship, not simply because someone upfront asks us to.
It was great to see the congregation respond of their own accord. There were various representations of these postures, not all were standing, not all were sitting, not all were raising their hands, not all were singing. Yet, it felt like all were worshiping.
in our discussions about what topics we should cover, worship was in there. However, after we talked about this for awhile, we decided it would be better to make the first part of the service about getting people out of their comfort zones when it comes to worship.
The first week (actually the second week of the series) we talked about our posture of worship. This is a phrase that I've actually used for quite some time. I've talked about how from time to time we need to put ourselves in a posture of worship that is a sacrifice for us. We need to get out of our comfort zone and make a gesture that signifies our humility towards God. For some of us that meant standing voluntarily, for others it mean sitting in our seats and pondering the words of the songs we were singing and not just singing them haphazardly. For others it meant raising hands, and maybe for some kneeling. The point was to respond to God voluntarily in worship, not simply because someone upfront asks us to.
It was great to see the congregation respond of their own accord. There were various representations of these postures, not all were standing, not all were sitting, not all were raising their hands, not all were singing. Yet, it felt like all were worshiping.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Worship Arts Ministry: Weekend Worship Review
So, this weekend, we did something that I've never done in my career as a worship leader. We only did three songs as a part of the worship time at the beginning of the service. That is the fewest number of songs I've ever done as part of a worship time.
It was very interesting. I was a little concerned about it, but when we were practicing it felt good. It felt good to learn the songs, and then have enough time to do a tech run through. It was also nice in the service to not feel like we were rushing through songs in order to be able to check them off.
I'm wondering what some of you other worship leaders think?
It was very interesting. I was a little concerned about it, but when we were practicing it felt good. It felt good to learn the songs, and then have enough time to do a tech run through. It was also nice in the service to not feel like we were rushing through songs in order to be able to check them off.
I'm wondering what some of you other worship leaders think?
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