Creative Worship

Last Night...

Early morning post.  Just dropped Carlos and his wife off at the airport.  He came and worshiped with us  last night at the Closer To The Start DVD recording.  Thanks for coming out Carlos and Heather!

Last night blew my mind.  The Church amazes me every time.  I wished you could have heard how loud the audience was as they worshiped Jesus.  We put God's work in our lives and in the world on display light night!  From top to bottom last night was the greatest energy filled night I have ever experienced in the 10 years I have been here at Fellowship Church.  Ed spoke about the call of the Church and the vision God has given our church.  God's presence was STRONG.

I have so much more to say about last night and so much more to show you.  Pics and videos to come today, so check back!  I gotta get some coffee.

Coffee with Ed

This is a message we shot with Ed for a weekend experience.  We saw many come to Christ through this crystal clear message of salvation.  It's a little long for a blog, but a great outreach tool.  Pass it around.

Delicious - Coffee and Conversation from Fellowship Church on Vimeo.

A Few Thoughts For The Worship Leader

*God is not looking for a certain "kind" of worship. He is looking for a certain "kind" of worshipper. God is looking for worshippers who worship Him in Spirit (connecting to Him relationally) and in Truth (grounded in Scripture). See John 4. Your primary focus should be to keep your heart aligned with God relationally and your life grounded in the truth of His revelation through His Word. Focus first on becoming the right "kind" of worshipper and worry about the "kind" of worship you will lead secondary.

*Anchor your life in His Word. Okay- so I am repeating myself here. The Word is where it is at!! You will not be the worship leader God has created you to be without anchoring your life in His Word. You might be a talented artist who can lead a crowd to sing, but you will not be a worship leader.

*Focus your worship on the work of the cross and the power of Christ's resurrection.

*Worship should fuel the rescue mission. When you lead worship, lead people to take that worship outside the walls of the church! Lead them to live a lifestyle of worship that sends a clarion call to the world the hope found in Christ.

*The measure of successful worship is not just involvement in a service (hands raised, voices singing). The measure of successful worship is life change. The measure of successful worship is what happens after the band stops playing and you stop singing.

*You can't lead worship without a stunned heart. When was the last time you stood in awe of your Creator? Yes, you write about Him and sing about Him, but when was the last time you allowed Him to stun your heart with His glory?

I thank God for the gift worship leaders are to the Church. To the team at FC: I love you guys and thank you for keeping your hearts in tune with our Saviour. You are doing an amazing job!!

Crazy Times...

This is going to be a super quick post because my life right now is CRAZY!! I am in the process of packing as we have to be out of our house on Monday. I am also in the throes of buying a new house and trying to figure out where we are going to live until the house is ready. Throw in the mix of that- I am getting ready for our Weekend Services, preparing a 4 week study on worship (more about that to come), putting together some things to prepare us to put out an all original worship album, outlining a book, brainstorming for the summer and coming fall, yada, yada, yada, and it's CRAZY TIMES! But I love this stuff. It's all about building the House and I am sold out to doing that full on!!

On a positive note I did take the chance to spend some much needed time fishing yesterday with some friends. We went to some property with some incredible spring fed lakes! I can't tell you how many fish we caught. Of course we released them all. It's all about catch and release. My thumb is raw from lipping the fish. One of the things I love about fishing is that it's one of the few things that I can shut everything else off in my mind. Amazingly enough some of my most creative thoughts come when I am fishing- and that's all about the theta waves. No creative thoughts this time though. I was able to spend some time praying when my trolling motor died and I was walking the banks and wading. I have found that it is critical to take the time to do things that allow my mind to focus on something else. That thing for me happens to be fishing and I don't wait for time to go fishing, I take the time to go fishing. It's the only way I can stay healthy with the break-neck pace of ministry. What do you do to stay healthy? What do you do during CRAZY TIMES?

Love For The "House"

We are in the throes of trying to sell our house and today as we were leaving for someone to come back for a second showing my oldest son asked if he could pray. His prayer went something like this:

"Dear Jesus please help our house to sell, not so I can have marshmallows and chocolate, but so that I can be closer to Your 'House'." (My wife promised him that when the house sells we would have a s'more party.)

I love that my son loves the "House." I love that my son wants to be closer to the "House." He loves it even more than he loves s'mores, and for a 6 year old that's some serious love.

Pray Beyond Provision

Today I sat down alongside of one of our Worship Leaders and together we interviewed a prospective new Worship Leader. The interview went great and at the end I felt led to say this: "Be sure you pray beyond provision."

I don't know about you, but although I am extremely grateful for how my church provides for my family, my serving there goes well beyond the provision. My serving there is about the call God has placed on my life. My serving there is about the love for this church that God has given me. My serving there is about believing so deeply in the vision God has given my Pastor that the "provision" is oftentimes the last thing on my mind. (I do realize that part of the reason is because my church takes such good care of my family that I don't have to worry about provision--that is a praise not a boast.)

But that's the type of people I want to serve alongside. I want to serve with men and women who have clarity in their call and who know that God has given them gifts specifically to grow the local church. There is a godly confidence that comes when we have clarity in our call. I thank God for that kind of clarity. I thank God that He has built and continues to build a team of men and women here at FC who have clarity in their call and as a result have confidence in the fact that God will provide.

Happiness or Holiness... and a little bit of Easter

Could it be that marriage has been given to us by God for our holiness more than our happiness?  This is a question our pastor posed in a new series we are starting called "Wholly Holy."   What a great thought!  I don't know about you, but  my marriage is definitely helping me daily to get over myself.  I am excited about this series.  Here is a link to Ed's first message.  week one

I promised I would post more about what God did during our Easter services.  First and foremost- He was lifted high!  We celebrated His work on the cross.  We got in view of the cost of our sin.   We stood in awe of His  resurrection power.  Many heard for the first time of God's redemption plan. 

We saw great crowds, which some what surprised us as the entire DFW area was on Spring Break all at once on Easter weekend.  This year was unique as we synced up via Streambox to each of our campuses and went live with the message as Ed traveled and spoke live at least once at each campus.  This was a great experience.  I learned so much that I would not have learned about our other campuses had we not done this.  (more about that later)  I love that FC is full of incurable learners.  They will take the Word any way that it is delivered.  Live or Video- they take it in and then take it out to the world.  FC- you amaze me.

We opened a brand new Campus in the downtown Ft.Worth area and saw a crowd of over 2500 in a combined two services.  The energy there was through the roof!  We are so proud of our Ft. Worth campus team.  They rocked it.  (I plan to post details of the gear we installed in case anyone is curious.)

Tomorrow I will post a video we did for Easter.  For those of you who sent me an email- thanks for sharing what God is doing in your church.

I am rambling...I am still on Easter empty.  Does anyone feel me?   

Be sure and follow this Series each week.  It's going to be great stuff!  I will never look at my marriage the same. 

Gentlemen...

I recently sat in a room with a group of leaders in which we were asked, "Gentlemen, what books are you currently reading?" As you can imagine just about every leadership book, marketing book, church growth book, missional book, blah, blah, blah, was mentioned. The next question silenced the room: "Gentlemen, what about your marriage?"

What about your marriage? What are you doing to invest in the loudest sermon you will ever preach? What are you doing to invest in the most important earthly relationship in your life? Fellas- let's not miss it here!

Join us for the Creative Marriage Retreat.

Your church will be healthier and so will your marriage. Come relax and refresh. We would love to see you there!

On My Back

In between our morning and evening services today I spent some time on our Grapevine campus out by the lake lying flat on my back.  That's right- lying flat on my back.  I love all things outdoors!  I love the outdoors because it reminds me of the "otherness" and "greatness" of God.  One step into the outdoors and I am very quickly reminded that He is in control and I am not. 

As we get closer to Easter weekend I am a little anxious about a few things.  I know we aren't "supposed" to be anxious about anything- but I am just shooting straight with you here.  I'm anxious about inviting my neighbors to our services.  I am anxious about not losing sight of my family experiencing Easter in the throes of my responsibilities of helping lead our Easter services.  I am anxious about Post Production making their deadlines and delivering on content to support the services.  I am anxious about our Drama lead picking the right actors.  I am anxious about the weather for our Lakeside service.  I am anxious about the stage design.  I am anxious about our services syncing up with Streambox at all our Campuses.  And this is just to name a few. 

But that is why I spent time outside today lying flat on my back.  On my back I can't help but look UP.  ("Where does my help come from?  It comes from the Lord.")  On my back I remembered Christ tells me, "Cast all your cares upon me."  On my back I can get lost in the Texas bluesskies and be enamored by the thought that just by saying, "Let it be," Christ created all of this in all its vastness.  On my back I can't feel the weight of my anxieties; instead I see the power of my Maker. 

On my back I am reminded He's got my back.  And He's got yours as well. 

The Thunder of the Jets

I live near an airport, and when we first moved into our house my oldest son was enamored by the jets constantly flying over the house.  Military jets, commercial jets, cargo jets, and the list goes on and on.  He'd go out and lie on the trampoline in the backyard for hours on end and just watch them as they flew by.  But over time, something happened.  The rumble of the jets, the sight of the jets coming up over the horizon- it all became just routine and familiar to him.  The wow factor- gone.  The hours spent in amazement on the trampoline- gone.  That is- until I took him to an air show.

We stood out on the tarmac together, and the first time one of the jets fired up and roared overhead, I look over and my son has absolutely lost it!  He had both hands clenched and held high in the air, he was jumping up and down like a chihuahua on crack and yelling at the top of his lungs, "THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!"  I kid you not, I could hear this little guy over the thunder of the jet's engine.  Everyone around us turned their attention from the jet to the little guy- just going for it.

What was all of that about?  Proximity.  To my son, the jets became familiar because he began to just see them as "far off."  But when he saw a jet up close, when he felt the thunder of the engine shake him- it changed everything. 

Our challenge in the ministry and especially if  you lead in the area of speaking or in worship is to not grow too "familiar" with God.  In so much of what we do, there is a danger in thinking we have this thing figured out, when the truth is even the most intimate things we know of God don't even scratch the surface of His greatness.  So it's all about Proximity. 

When was the last time you got close enough to the heart of God that His glory thundered in your soul?  When was the last time you stood alone, in view of the greatness of God, and responded to Him with both hands in the air, declaring His greatness? 

We need to keep ourselves close enough where the Glory of God thunders in us at the level of our souls.  We need to pray as Moses prayed, "Now show me Your glory" (Exodus 33:18).  And the great thing is we are set up to experience Him that way.  We have "Christ in us," our hope and glory. 

"The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word."  Hebrews 1:3

Let His Glory THUNDER!