Is Excellence Perfection?
Excellence is a word we like to throw around especially in Christian circles. My sons old school used it so much it almost had no meaning. It’s not quite as bad as “Awesome” or “Incredible” but almost.
What does is mean? In regard to performance, our effort, our offering, our worship.
We can look at Hillsong, New Life, Willow Creek, or Mars Hill and say it’s easy for them to offer excellence look what they have. But how can I offer excellence when all I have is an old church piano player and a 13 year old drummer?
Is it possible we have incorrectly linked excellence with perfection?
The dictionary defines “Excellence” as:
“The quality of being outstanding or extremely good”
So far so good but what is the standard by which we determine what is “outstanding” or “extremely good”? Is it Darlene Zschesch, Ross Parsley, Chris Tomlin, or is it the music teacher at the high school?
The dictionary defines “Perfection” as:
“the condition, state, or quality of being free from all flaws or defects”
Is that something we can offer? Do we have within our capacity or control to bring an offering free from “all flaws or defects”?
Vines Concise Dictionary of the Bible gives definitions for each usage of “excellence” here are the key words:
Over and above, The surpassing thing, To differ, A throwing beyond, The act of overhanging or the thing which overhangs, More, Greater, Superior by reason of inward worth, Mightiest, Noblest, Best.
When we talk, or think, about worship the word that is coupled with worship most often is “sacrifice” or “offering”. There are 5 different types of offerings in Leviticus.
Burnt offering, Leviticus 1:3 To show worship, devotion, and ask for forgivenessGrain offering, Leviticus 2:1 To give thanks and recognize God as the giver of blessing and provider of good things
Peace offering, Leviticus 3:1 To ask God for blessing Sin offering, Leviticus 4:1-2 To ask forgiveness for a specific unintentional sin or to become clean after becoming unclean Guilt offering, Leviticus 5:15, 17-18 To make up for cheating, robbing, or destroying anything belonging to the Lord or to the people
These are all things we do, in whole or in part, when we come to worship. All of these require a sacrifice. All of them except the grain offering require an animal from the herd “without blemish”. The grain offering requires “fine flour”.
“Without blemish” can literally be translated “possessing integrity or truth”. Integrity is “the state of being whole or undivided”.
Consider King David in 1 Chronicles 21. Ornan was willing to give everything for the offering even the animals for the burnt offering. But David’s reply should cause us to stop and think, verse 24:
“I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing”
Excellence then is:
“to offer the best I have, something above and beyond or different from the norm, something costly”
What are your thoughts? What am I missing?
New Song
As you know earlier this year I set some goals. One was to write 30 songs this year.
Not doing to well so far but there’s still lots of time to make it happen. I have 3 I could call finished but had the urge to record yesterday so thought I would post one so you would know I’m not just making up numbers.
I know I’m not supposed to apologize for it before you even hear it so here is my apology. I’m going for quantity not quality. I’m also trying things I don’t normally do. Some of the lyrics are cliche’ I know that and there is a flat 7 chord in the bridge. It’s the old hymn I told you about reworked. So it sounds a bit old country.
There you go you can give a listen in several places. I have widgets all over the place.
If your reading this in Facebook you can go to my profile and click on “my band” you’ll see it on top of the list there.
If your reading the blog fed into anywhere else you can go to the widget on my profile main page.
If you happen to be on the blog itself there is a widget on the right side toward the bottom.
You can also find it here and here.
I don’t plan to leave it up long since it’s pretty raw and I will use that space the next time I want to share.
would love your feedback. Please be gentle :-}
Sunday Set List
Seems like Sunday was a long time ago, and Saturday night even longer.
The Worship Community has a weekly featured called Sunday Set List. This week I decided to participate so here we go.
Saturday night I was at Life in Christ Church in Limon CO for a night of prayer and worship. We had a great time with a small but passionate group.
Here is the set list:
Hosanna (Praise is Rising)
Holy is The Lord
In the Secret
Open the Eyes of My Heart
Hosanna (Hillsong)
For Who You Are
I Will Stand
Hear us From Heaven
God of This City
Holy
Forever
Right of the top I didn’t turn up the volume on my guitar so It was all acoustic which made it a little hard to hear and made me pound on it a little harder trying to get the sound. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before don’t know what my problem was.
In the secret was an idea I got from a School of Worship student. We changed it up a lot and made it fresh. The people really responded well. I think I’ll try this with some other older songs.
We had a violin and a bass as well as my acoustic. The sound was good otherwise and the people came forward and shared thoughts and scripture I’m looking forward to going back.
If your a worship leader go to Sunday Set list and participate.
Real Heroes
It’s one thing to see stories like this on TV but when it’s someone you know it really brings it home.
Aaron and Tanya have been in this process for a long time and when they found out they could bring their boys home they could have just focused on themselves and that would have been fine but that’s not what they did.
With the help of Messenger International where Aaron is the CFO they chartered a 737 and brought home 80 children. They are considering other flights as well.
Watch this clip from the NBC nightly news and then go to the Messenger International website to see how you can help.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Setting Goals is Easy
Achieving them is the hard part.
Yesterday I woke up full of anticipation and excitement. I was going to be stranded all day at home without a car. The Honda is out of comission for awhile, hopefully not forever, long story.
This was going to be a day of writing and recording with my new PowerBook G4. I couldn’t wait.
Then it seems all heaven and earth conspired against me. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. The day ended with discouragement and feeling like the day was mostly wasted. This morning I have a new perspective thanks to my mentor.
Without really noticing I have become very “me” focused. I read recently the thing that you are most irritated with in others may be the thing you need to address most.
in your own life. Wow so true with me right now. Today I return to pressing into Him and trusting He knows what I need to be doing today.
Thank you Lord for people who love me enough to tell me the truth.
Tags: Goals, Dissapointment
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“Leading” Worship
One of the themes I am seeing around the blogosphere and on posting boards is the idea a worship leaders job is to simply worship. People will either follow or not but it’s not the responsibility of the worship leader.
I couldn’t disagree more.
Though there is some truth to the notion that we can’t make people follow and we definitely can’t make people worship however; the idea that the leaders job is simply to stand and worship in front of people couldn’t be more wrong.
Our job as leaders begins well before we stand on the platform in front of the congregation. Every situation is different and we need to make sure we are seeking God for what He wants to say to His people. When were in leadership we must consider every revelation or communication from the Lord as to whether it is for us or for the people we are leading.
We must live in the secret place. Seeking Him and His desire for His people. Leading worship is not about choosing 5 songs in the same key or chord family. It’s not about doing what were, necessarily, comfortable with. It’s about going to the mountain and hearing God’s heart for His people.
After spiritual preparation it’s about preparing your craft. Whether it’s an instrument, your vocal, a video, a congregational reading, or whatever we must prepare ourselves. Remember we must be about excellence not perfection. Excellence is about offering our best not being perfect or even the best.
When we show up to the service we should invite the Holy Spirit to ruin our preparation. We should have been listening to Him through our preparation but it is so critical to invite Him to disrupt the service. Make it clear to Him and the worship team that we are going to go with Him wherever He goes.
Finally when we stand on the platform in front of those who Jesus bought with His own blood, those who He loves so much He would rather die than be without, we must engage them. We must draw them into the secret place with us. Not by manipulating emotions but by being genuine, leading them to the throne and then getting out of the way. Having been with Jesus we should know where they are and what He has given us to say to them should connect with them right away.
I understand sometimes it’s hard work. There is an enemy who knows the power of God’s people in unity worshiping the living God and is actively at work to disrupt that activity. I am not saying if we follow the right formula everything will work. Sometimes it doesn’t. But if it doesn’t it’s not because we weren’t prepared and haven’t done everything within our control to make sure it does work.
Eddie Espinosa says “worshiping in front of a congregation is like eating a 5 course meal in front of starving people”.
Leading worship is about going somewhere and taking as many as will come with us. This is not a passive activity but a very engaging, purposeful, passionate activity. We cannot take responsibility for how “good” the worship was but we must take responsibility for being prepared and engaging God’s people.
Please don’t embrace false humility in any form but especially when it comes to the responsibility of leading God’s people in worship.
A Touchy Subject
Today I want to tackle something that has been on my heart and mind for a long time but haven’t really known how to approach it because I know what the response will be from some.
Before I begin please understand I believe evangelism to be the responsibility of every believer. Having said that I don’t believe we are all evangelists. We should all be ready to answer anyone who asks about the hope we possess. The primary way we cause people to ask is to “Set Christ apart as Lord in our hearts” and when we are asked we must answer “with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience” 1 Peter 3:15-16.
With that preface here is my premise:
We have emphasized evangelism at the cost of making disciples.
We have all heard the “great commission” so many times we can recite it verbatim. Or can we? We know the part about “go”. but do we know the whole passage, Matthew 28:18-20, and the context?
Jesus did say go but the last thing He said was not go but wait. That’s right wait. Jesus last words are not recorded in Matthew 28, they are recorded in Acts 1.
Why wait? times a wastin! people are going to hell! the devil isn’t waiting!!!
Jesus gives the reason in both Mathew 28 and Acts 1.
Matthew 28:18, Jesus said “all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me”, 20 “and lo, I am with you always.
Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”
Have we so overemphasized evangelism that we have actually hindered the work of evangelism?
One of my favorite authors and preachers A.W. Tozer suggests that may be the case. In his devotional he states:
When we go out of obligation and of our own strength believing we must “go” we can spread a “degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands” which does not fulfill the command of Christ. He never said make converts He said “make disciples” and a disciple who has “set Christ apart as Lord in his heart” will evoke the question, “what is it about you?” and that same person will be able to answer “with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience”.
Again please don’t misunderstand. There may be a place for the person at the mall passing out tracks. however if all of us were setting Christ apart in our hearts and communication with those entrusted to us with courtesy and respect how much more effective would we be making disciples?
I also believe if we are all walking in the fullness of our calling, being who God has called and created us to be, the church would grow. Ephesians 4:15-16 says as much:
Paraphrase: When we are all walking in the fullness of our gifts and calling the church will grow.
A.W. Tozer points out Jesus chilling words in Matthew 23:15:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
Are we living our lives in such a way we can say “follow me as I follow Christ”? I know I could grow in that area. Please pray with me for the church to get a revelation of her primary purpose.
Blessings,
Are We Asking The Right Questions?
Over the last several months I have been involved in conversations on blogs and forums surrounding all things related to the corporate worship service and the teams of people who facilitate our corporate worship experience.
The conversations are about everything from style, to heart, to practical aspects related to worship in the church. I hear the hearts cry from these leaders and team members and believe the motivation, for the most part, is good. They genuinely want to create an environment where the people of God can come together without distraction and enter into the presence of God with the community of believers they have chosen to identify with.
Today I ran across a conversation entitled “The Ideal Band Member”. I eagerly clicked the link thinking we were going to talk about the type of person we are looking for to be on our worship team. Someone who possesses a servants heart, a lover of God and His word. Someone who will lay down their life for the Bride of Christ, not positioning themselves for something bigger and better but sincerely serving the house. And oh by the way they are skillful. I was disappointed.
The conversation was about instrumentation. “We have two guitars, a bass, a drummer, and two keyboard players what should we be trying to add next?”
Please don’t misunderstand. This is not an invalid or unimportant conversation. If our goal is excellence this is a valid stream however; in the context of the last several months it made me wonder if we are really asking the right questions.
What is our purpose as leaders in the church in general and worship leaders specifically?
I remember receiving an email telling me I would not be asked to be a part of the worship team because the pastor wanted a cohesive group of musicians. And since I was an unknown they were going to choose people who they knew could deliver. I wanted to scream “our purpose is not to build a cohesive group”. Now if my skillset is not at an acceptable level fair enough but if the reason I am not invited is so you can have a “cohesive group” there may be a misunderstanding of our purpose.
Our purpose is first the equipping of the saints, and second to operate in our gifts. This is the order were given in Ephesians 4:12
“the edification of the body”
I have much more to say on that topic but for now I’ll leave it there.
Certainly when we stand on the platform we must be invisible. Actually transparent is a better word and the best way to do that is to be excellent. Not perfect but excellent. Excellence is giving the best you have which is much different than perfection. This is not an either or proposition. We can, and must, accomplish both. It was God’s idea and He can certainly give us the wisdom to accomplish it in our context. But if were not even asking the question we are grossly missing the point.
If we are faithful with the faithfulness entrusted to us God will give the increase and bring the right instruments/musicians or whatever we need at the right time. People are our purpose and we must never lose sight of that priority.
I Love The Church
My Pastor, Brady Boyd, made a statement several weeks ago that will stay with me forever. He said:
“those who love the bride will have the opportunity to heal the bride”
He’s absolutely right. There are many people who do not love the Bride who are trying to “fix” her. It wont work. The fix has to come from the inside; from those who love her. It’s no different than any other relationship. Do you listen to just anyone who gives advice? or do restrict the privilege of speaking into your life to those who know you and love you enough to tell you the truth?
I love the Bride, the Church, the coming together of the saints of God to worship and hear the Word of God proclaimed. I love the fellowship aspect of Church. I love the community aspect of Church. I love every aspect of Church and I am convinced God does as well.
Psalm 87:2
The gates are where the people gather. I have a picture in my mind of God sitting on His throne on Sunday morning so excited for His people to come together for a single purpose. Psalm 133 says where there is unity God commands a blessing. When we come together for corporate worship it’s one of the few things we do in almost total unity.
So if you, like me, see problems with the Bride is your heart in a place where you can speak the truth in love? Make sure before you start suggesting a “fix”.
Blessings
Set List
Didn’t come to Lingle WY to lead worship but they asked me so I am excited. Here’s the set list.
Opener: Your Grace is Enough
Welcome/Announcements
Let God Arise
Mighty to Save
Better is One Day
Revelation Song
Your Love is Extravagant
Come join us I’m really looking forward to it.
My Songs
