Immanuel Worship

I can't wait for tomorrow. It is Sunday and I love worshiping with our people at Immanuel. I had a guy come in my office this week to meet with me. He told me that his life had been a waste up to this point. He said that he had sensed God calling him to Himself. He said "I need redemption and I know the only way is through Jesus. I need His forgiveness and salvation. What do I do?"

Well, that was an easy one. So, I walked him through some scripture that answered that question. He went on to say that the choir and the music had convicted and encouraged him during the services he had attended at Immanuel. That is what it's all about! Bringing glory to God through our worship and allowing Him to work through that in people's lives. Amazing!

Sunday Worship at Immanuel

I always like to cause the average worshiper on Sunday morning to think; to use their minds and engage their hearts in worship. We should always understand and internalize the lyrics of any song as we offer it to the Lord. Each song is not just something chosen by the Worship Pastor for the purpose of filling a spot. Instead, each has a purpose to help put into words our commitment and heart-felt gratitude. We need to understand the scripture and intent of each song we sing.

Today, I pulled things back in our contemporary worship service. I felt that we needed a time of intimate, reflective corporate worship. So, I gave the band the day off and I just sat at the piano and led the church in worship. As they entered, Psalm 5:7 was on the screen, and the stage had low lighting to draw people's attention to the scripture. I then began to play and led us through the chorus of "Here I Am to Worship". We moved on into "All I Need" and "I Need Thee Every Hour". We capped it off with "Revelation Song" which I had a female lead vocal on as the congregation sang with her. I think it was just what we needed today. It was simple. It was without distraction. It was genuine.

I long for those worship moments with the church.

Thanksgiving Eve Services

November 25, we will have a Thanksgiving Eve worship service at Immanuel. We have been planning for a while but have just confirmed what the service is going to look like. Our desire is to make it a multi-generational service. Basically, we want to hear from everyone. I don't like "open-microphone" services because you never know what you are going to get. Some people will go on forever. Others will talk about everything except what they are supposed to. Still others will feel like any subject is appropriate...when it's not. However, we still want to hear from our people. So, we're just going to go about it in a different way.

We are going to have a texting service. Now, before you throw your hands up in despair (if anyone really does that), let me explain. Texting is just a different type of "open-microphone", except that we will have someone filtering the comments that come in. So, if people start thanking the Lord for the San Diego Chargers, we will be able to catch it.

At different points throughout the night we will display these prayers of thanksgiving on the screen. So, our people will text during the service and see their text later in that same service. We will display them in a cool way, as well. I'm really excited about doing something new that honors the Lord in a unique way. Who says we can't use technology to bring praises to His name?

We will also have a video from the kids about what they think the first Thanksgiving was like, some great worship music, and we will observe the Lord's supper together. If you are anywhere near Southern California on Thanksgiving Eve, bring your cell phone and get to Immanuel by 6:45pm. See you there!

Preparing to Serve

As believers, we are all called to be servants. Our first priority is to serve the Lord. For those of us who are worship leaders, it is easy to confuse spiritual preparation with musical preparation. Let me explain what I mean.

As musicians, amateur or professional, we spend tons of time preparing ourselves for the music in which we are going to lead the church. There are notes to be learned, rhythms to work out, words to memorize, and phrasing to be structured. We work on blending. We work on stage presence. We even work on smiling. With all of this "work", it can feel at times that we have prepared ourselves to lead in worship. However, this is where the enemy can get a foothold.

Although there is a lot of work involved in the musical aspect of worship leading, our primary responsibility is to prepare ourselves spiritually. If we look at the life of the apostle Paul, we see him preparing himself spiritually before he poured into others. In Galatians 1, Paul says that he prepared for 3 years. Some theologians believe that the Lord had Paul in the desert training him, just as He did with Moses, Abraham, and David. The fact of the matter is that Paul prepared himself spiritually.

In John 4:23 & 24 Jesus says, "But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." It's not just the spirit; worshiping out of a relationship with passion and emotion. That is extremely important. But, it is also worshiping in truth; from a spiritual preparation of time in God's word, preparing our hearts and minds and aligning everything we do with His word.

It is not "either/or", it's "both/and". As a worshiper, we must worship in spirit AND in truth. Only then will we truly accomplish that which the Lord has called us to as worship leaders.

Christmas Banquet

I was asked to provide music for a Christmas banquet that was held last night. The banquet was for pastors and staffs of the Inland Empire Baptist Churches. I am all about loving on and encouraging other pastors and staffs, so I was all for it. I asked a couple of friends of mine, Darrin Thurber and Mike Levitsky, to play with me. Darrin is an acoustic guitar guru and Mike is unreal on drums. Mike is actually sponsored by these guys . If you go to their site, click on the artists link and then on outlaws. You'll find Mike listed there.

It was a great night. We did some cool arrangements of some carols, a Third Day Christmas song, a Paul Baloche tune, and then we ended with one that I wrote called Bethlehem. It was a lot of fun, a great time of worship, and great food. Anytime I get the opportunity to worship and lead in worship is a good night for me.

Another Worship Tool

Yes, again this involves Paul Baloche. I've just found that he is putting some great things out there for worship leaders at little or no cost. Check out his website at LeadWorship.com . You can put in your email address and receive updates and download options. Also, there are a ton of songs on this site that you can download demos of and band charts for....all for free. Yes, that's right. FREE! What a great tool. Thanks, Paul, for putting great worship leading tools into the hands of worship leaders around the world.

Kingdom Minded people make me happy.

Collection of Note

As a worship leader, I am always on the look out for great music that is scripture based and facilitates worship. With the constant change in worship styles and formats, it is difficult to meet the needs of everyone with one product. However, Integrity Music has just released a new Paul Baloche CD that is a great tool for worship. The name of the CD is "Our God Saves" and has several great worship songs. But, what really makes this a cool tool is that it saves the worship leader tons of time in writing charts and/or searching for chord charts online. It is an enhanced CD that has the leadsheets on it along with instructional video clips that give you tips on different guitar techniques in playing each song. If this fits your church's worship style then go check it out. It's sure to be a great tool for you and your fellow worshipers.

Leading Worship

I had the awesome opportunity to lead worship for the FAITH Training and Equipping Seminar that was held today by Lifeway. What an honor! I love the opportunity to lead worship anytime I can. As a result, I was invited to lead worship in April at the Inland Empire Baptist Associational Meeting. I can't wait. There is nothing as sweet as leading people in worship of our Almighty Father. What could be any better than that?

I am also leading worship again in the morning (yes, on my BIRTHDAY - hint hint). We're going to be meeting the Lord with You, You are God, You are God Alone, and Made to Worship. It will definitely be a sweet time of praise.

Senior Adults

I had the awesome opportunity to lead worship at Immanuel's Senior Adult Luncheon today. They are always so encouraging to me. Far too often senior adults are forsaken as we put our ministry efforts in other areas. However, we would not be where we are today as a church had it not been for this generation of heroes. Every moment I have with them is a blessing from the Lord. Today, we sang some of the great hymns of the faith together, and I debuted a new song the Lord has given me to write. Good times!

Leading Worship

In talking with church musicians in various churches around the country, one thing that I've noticed is a new found understanding of our role as lead worshipers. Church musicians seem to be coming back to the realization that we are worshipers first, musicians second. Without a true biblical based understanding of our role as worship leaders, it doesn't matter how great of a musician we are.

We've got to get back to the basics. Our leading others in worship is all about God, not about the music. It goes without saying that the music has to be well rehearsed, filled with excellence, inspiring and God honoring. However, our primary focus should be on uplifting the Lord, creating a worshipful atmosphere, exemplifying true worship from the platform, and facilitating worship among God's people. We are leading the Bride of Christ in worship. The magnitude of that responsibility alone should have us on our faces before the Lord on a daily basis in preparation for that moment.

Leading Worship

I can't tell you how often I am involved in conversations about our role as worshipers in the church. Many often want to make it about our individual issues about musical preference and style, when the reality of it is that we were created to be worshipers. It needs to cease being about us and focus in on Him. Now, with that being said, I do believe God has made us musical for our enjoyment as well as His. If we don't like the music we're singing, it throws up a huge road block in our ability to lead others through that particular style or song. Therefore, we must constantly be aware of the people we are leading in worship and choose music that will both honor God and facilitate worship among His church.

I'll be talking soon about our role as worship leaders and the 1 Year Commitment we are asking our people to make at Immanuel. Check back soon and give me your input.