Dear worship leader,

Thanks for your presence on stage. Thanks for taking us to deeper places of worship of our God. Thanks for the time and talent you pour into bringing what you bring every Sunday, week in and week out. But, there’s a catch.

Leading worship from on stage isn’t enough. Show us where your heart is by being His hands and feet and worship with your life. Help feed the homeless. Spend time with underprivileged kids. Take part in the sufferings of Christ.

It’s easier for us to follow you on stage if you can lead us in serving the poorest of the poor, “the least of these.”

(I bet those nasty letters will stop, too).

Don’t wait for someone else to go first. Lead us in worship. We know you can do it. And we’re ready to follow you.

Related posts:

1. Letters to Leaders, Vol. 1
2. 10 Tips for Worship Leaders: How to Enhance On-Stage Presence
3. Worship Leaders: Play Songs Your Congregation Doesn’t Like

Attention, Members and Guests of TheWorshipCommunity.Com (TWC)

TWC Founder, Fred McKinnon (blog | twitter), will be teaching a live “webinar” next Monday, Nov. 9 for Worship Leader Magazine called “Worship + Web 2.0″.  We’ll be talking about some of the online tools and resources we use as worship leaders and technicians.  Of course, TWC will be highlighted as well!  It’s basically the same class that Fred taught the last two years at the National Worship Leader Conference. To register, click here.

Worship + Web 2.0
taught by Fred McKinnon

Monday, November 9, 2009
11:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (duration 1 hour)
(that’s 2:00 PM EST)

Facebook, Twitter, Blogs - can all these web-based technologies really enhance our worship services? Do you ever hit a creative “dead end” in your efforts to plan an impacting worship service? Join Fred McKinnon as we discuss how worship leaders and service planners are using the web to network, share, and collaborate on service planning through these tool

(Fred McKinnon is the Worship Pastor at St. Simons Community Church on St. Simons Island, GA. He is the founder of TheWorshipCommunity.com and blogs daily at FredMcKinnon.com about worship, leadership, faith, and ministry. Fred has been using social media as a tool in worship ministry and has been a guest speaker at the National Worship Leader Conference for the past two years.)

If you haven’t attended a Worship Leader Webinar yet, this is a great place to start. Offering the most accessible high-quality training available in the skills worship leaders need to lead their congregations, all you need is an Internet connection and a telephone. For only $39.00 a session, individuals or entire teams can attend.

REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR
(limited to 100 attendees)

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2. Join us for “Worship Meet Up” - July 21, 2009 - KS
3. FaceBook Integration for TWC

Laura Hackett Interview with Misty Edwards from Forerunner Music on Vimeo.

Get a free track from the new album here.

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Luz’ unique personal history (he’s been both a Jazz musician and a rocket scientist and now is a Pastor) makes me want to sit across the Starbucks table from him and just ask him to talk about his life.  This and the fact that he really doesn’t like the commercialism of “Contemporary Christian Music” as a genre make for an interesting and compelling book (he describes Jesus casting out the moneychangers in the temple as an example of Biblical era commercialism).

He deftly weaves through a discussion about “Christian art” and claims that as a Christian with a true Christian worldview (a set of assumptions that affect our view of the world), our art cannot help but express this in some way.  If Christ is in us, He will “escape” in our art.

He writes about God as the first artist:

“…God loves music. He is passionate about it.  He is the original audiophile.  And more so, it is one of His love languages.  …He derives great joy when we express ourselves to Him with music.  He inspires us to sing, and we sing.  He inspires us to compose and play, and we compose and we play.  And He inspires us, in part because He simply loves to hear us play, loves to hear us compose, loves to hear us sing. …We musicians were created, in part, to play the gig to end all gigs.  …We have the privilege and honor of playing and singing for the God of the universe. …He taps His foot to the beat.  He smiles at the clever turn of phrase. He anticipates the key change, hangs on every note in the solo, leans forward in His seat when we hit the final chorus.  He applauds when we finish each song. (page 32)

And as a non-musician writer, I can only believe this is the same about all art:  writing, music, dramatic and visual arts included.  God in enamored with my meager attempt at creating art even though He is Supreme Artist, and this alone is inspiration enough to keep pursuing my art even when I feel like I’m finger painting next to a Monet.

Luz talks about his own struggles as a young musician and preacher, including the sin of pride, false authenticity and the traps of success.  He humorously recounts a sermon he gave on pride. He says, “I remember preaching on the sin of pride once.  I thought I did that great.” (page 95)

He tackles the definitions of beauty and art and reminds us that God is the ultimate author of beauty and that “anyone who is moved by beauty is closer to God than they realize.” (page 57)

Luz calls for excellence in artistic expression and encourages musicians, artists, dancers and writers to spend time and energy honing their craft.  It’s important to be good at what God has called you to do.

I was engaged and encouraged by Luz’ writing.  I enjoyed his perspective about the church and its relationship to the artist.   I especially connected with his section on reconciling “secular” art with “Christian” art.

Bottom line:  I liked this book.  And sometimes I’m a hard sell on books. I thought it read well and easily and was broad in its scope regarding art.  I didn’t feel that as a musician, he left me (a writer) out of the discussion.

I would recommend this to musicians and worship leaders, writers and journalists, dramatic and performing artists, as well as visual artists.

Well done, Mr. Luz.  And I’d love to come hear your Jazz trio sometime.

Related posts:

1. Imagine That - Book Review
2. “Imagine That” Review

Part One: The Fall

I braced myself against my car door, the hot May air so thick, I could almost choke on it. I don’t think I had ever felt so disgusted with myself. A sudden realization of just how far I had gone washed over me and I threw up all over the ground next to my car. I wiped my mouth, took a ragged breath, and climbed in my car. I was barely out of the driveway before I texted “911” to my friend, Clint. It was our code, our “you need to call me because I’m about to screw up big time” code. Too late for that, I guess.

He called me less than a minute after I sent the text.

“What’s up?”

“Clint,” I choked, hot tears running down my cheeks, “I just screwed up bad, man.”

But I should start at the beginning.

This story takes its roots two years and a few months earlier. I was traveling with the worship team that was sent out from the school of ministry I went to, playing keys and helping lead worship with my classmates. We ended up on Saint Simons Island, a beautiful jewel of a place located on the southeastern coast of Georgia. It was a special trip for me because I used to vacation there with my parents when I was a kid. It was there that I first encountered Christian Renewal Church of Saint Simons Island.

CRCSSI was a church plant of a larger mother church in Brunswick, GA, a church that had really pioneered modern worship in the area, and it had some of the most hungry, passionate worshippers I’d come across in a long time. I fell in love with the place immediately. Then I met the pastor, Dan Harris, one of the nicest guys you’ll ever hope to meet. I felt an instant connection with him. Toward the end of the trip, he approached me about coming on staff as the youth pastor, and to say I was excited would be an understatement.

I was a 21-year-old ministry school grad with lots of passion and lots of ideas for shaking things up, and I was being given an opportunity to fulfill the dream I’d had since being called to ministry at 16.

I jumped in with both feet.

Three months into my first year, the worship pastor at CRCSSI, an amazing, talented, wonderful guy named Fred McKinnon (who later founded this website), was led to resign from his position, which left me in the dual role of youth pastor/worship leader, the two-for-one gig occupied by many of you reading these words right now. Truth be told, it was my first time leading worship for an entire church by myself. I honestly didn’t think I was that good those first few Sundays, but everyone was so encouraging, and I could feel myself beginning to grow in my gifting. I was blossoming.

Doors started opening with the local community of musicians and I started being asked to lead worship for local events, and I developed a reputation in the area for being something of a “young gun.” It was all very flattering.

This continued for a year, and then the novelty wore off. I had to face the music (no pun intended): my youth ministry was an afterthought to me and a source of frustration to my pastor, I had grown cocky and arrogant, and worse, my relationship with God had mellowed from a white-hot ache to know Him more to more of a dull throb in the back of my mind. I’d like to re-emphasize that my relationship with God wasn’t non-existent…just mediocre.

That was when the porn started. At first, it was a screw-up here and there, but then it grew until I knew I had to address it. I confessed to Clint, and we both got the accountability software from XXXchurch.com, and I took a deep breath and told myself I was over it. Four months later, I found myself in a totally inappropriate position with a totally inappropriate person, crossing lines that I swore I’d never cross, all for a brief moment of pleasure.

That’s where I ended up losing my lunch on the pavement and calling Clint.

I told him the whole story, sparing none of the embarrassing details. He sat quietly on the other end for a while.

“What am I going to do, Clint?” I asked him, already knowing what I had to do, “if I confess to this, they’ll fire me.”

“Ben, I can’t tell you what to do,” he said with a deep sigh, “you’re going to have to make that decision yourself, but I do know this: what you do now will determine who you’ll be for the rest of your life.”

I won’t lie, I’m a schemer and a dreamer by nature. I already had three or four strategies for making this thing go away, and none of them required me to confess. Then I thought of what it would be like to live with myself.

I didn’t even get through praying for it. That evening in my home, the dialogue between me and God went something like this:

“God, what should I…”

“Confess.”

“That’s just my guilty conscience talking. Deep breath. Okay, now really. What should I…”

“Confess your sins one to another so that you may be healed.”

“I know that’s what your word says, but…”

“Confess, Ben.”

“I don’t want to lose my job.”

“I’m your provider.”

“I don’t want to be hurt.”

“I’m your healer.”

“Okay, Lord. Fine.”

I called Clint with my intentions, and the next morning, I walked into my pastor’s office after staff meeting and spilled my guts about the porn, my struggle with it, the situation the day before, the whole nine. He was very gracious, thanked me for confessing to him, prayed with me, and told me he’d get back with me. I walked out of his office feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Little did I know that the worst was yet to come…

Next Week’s Part 2: Rock Bottom

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Dear Songful Shepherds,

I am grateful for the opportunity to gather with my fellow sheep and focus on our Lord in song and in the study of His Word under your leadership.  I have been asking myself, “What does God’s Word reveal about our relationship with Christ that we should be learning and singing in worship music?”  I once heard a quote that has stuck with me:  Spiritual growth happens when we realize what is already true of us in Christ. If that is true, then we need songs that teach us about who we are in Christ.  Lyrical peanut butter that sticks with you (sorry to those with peanut allergies).  Songs that teach us things that we can be thankful for.

As a distracted sheep I often find that songs with little depth and great repetition are heavily affected by musical quality, but if a song has something to teach me, I can ignore musical oddities because I have something greater to focus on.  Take for example, “In Christ Alone”: the lyrics describe a rich theological tapestry that gives me a tremendous amount to meditate on and thank my God for.  Placing that against songs like ‘Open the Eyes of My Heart” the lyrical depth isn’t there (sorry, Paul Baloche, nothing personal).  There are times for more repetitive songs, but please give us doctrine to chew on.  The melody is a “Spoonful of Sugar,” but I need something that lasts through the day.  As a sheep, I need real sheep food.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for leading.  This is not about what I think I need, its about what I God says I really need.  I really need food to grow on, and I need to be edified by Him through you.

Beholding Him,

Sheep

Related posts:

1. Letters to Leaders, Vol. 2
2. 10 Tips for Worship Leaders: How to Enhance On-Stage Presence
3. Worship Leaders: Play Songs Your Congregation Doesn’t Like

Integrity Music plans to introduce Whittaker, who has been a worship leader for more than a decade, through a digital EP scheduled for release in early 2010 with a full album slated to release later in the year.

Whittaker’s day job since 2007 has been as worship leader for Buckhead Church, a satellite campus of Atlanta’s North Point Church, one of the biggest and fastest growing churches in America led by Rev. Andy Stanley.  He sits on the creative sermon planning team for Andy Stanley and is one of the key planners and teachers for the Catalyst Conference for more than 12,000 worship leaders and team members held in Atlanta this month.  He has also advised on programming for the Saddleback Conference and other churches and events in the U.S.

Whittaker has earned a reputation as one of the most transparent and authentic worship leaders in the Church.  With more than 20,000 followers on his RagamuffinSoul.com blog and Twitter, Whittaker has harnessed the power of technology and social media to build and nurture community.  His fondness for knocking down Christian stereotypes was on full display in his appearance on The Learning Channel’s popular reality show “L.A. Ink” during which Whittaker commissioned a tattoo of Saul’s conversion for his entire right arm.

“Unquestionably, Carlos has the ability to become one of the most respected and relevant voices in the every-changing landscape of worship music,” said Jay King, Vice President of Artist Development/A&R for Integrity.  “Along with leading worship at one of the biggest churches in the United States, Carlos is a born communicator and his unique and uninhibited style connects with a broad audience whether he’s leading from the platform of a church or writing for a constantly growing blog community, all of whom are eagerly awaiting his first worship record.”

Whittaker, who counts Keith Green, Rich Mullins, Hillsong and Jack Johnson among his music influences, is working with Jason Ingram, who will produce his debut recordings.  He is also co-writing with Mia Fieldes and Philip LaRue.

“My life goal is to inspire a movement of authenticity among all generations of Christians that morphs the face of the evangelical church into a place of being real with yourself, others, and God,” says Whittaker.

Whittaker and his wife Heather Whittaker make up a blogging power couple in Ragamuffinsoul.com and Whittakerwoman.typepad.com.  They have 3 children - - Seanna and Sohalia and son Losiah, adopted from Seoul, Korea in 2006.

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1. Jesus Saves - Carlos Whittaker, Jason Ingram, and Mia Fields
2. YouAreTheAmp - Saturday Sept 20
3. Introduction to Music Loops in Worship

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Off the upcoming debut album from Carlos Whittaker

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“We create because we are made in the image of the Creator. We simply cannot help it.”

Dear Manuel:

I was recently asked to read and review “Imagine That.” I was eager, and quickly moved through the book, soaking up the words. After reading, it only seem fitting that this review really be a letter to you. It’s the only context in which my response will make sense.

I’ve been an artist all my life, both in visual and musical expressions. Aside from directly leading worship, I’ve struggled to merge my faith with my art. As a Christian, I am compelled to make a difference in this world. To touch lives for the sake of the Gospel. To glorify God through my life. Because of this, I’ve felt obligated to either create hyper-preachy work, or to trade in my guitar pick for activities that have more well-defined place in the church. This struggle has always centered on the nagging question: What role do artists play in the Kingdom of God?

For far too long, these two core areas of my life have been at odds with one another. I saw my creativity as a cathartic hobby. A self-indulgent activity. So I indulged. Compelled by my own soul, I drew, painted, wrote songs, wrote poetry, designed logos… My life felt incomplete without some form of artistic expression, but I felt a small pang of guilt in seemingly fruitless creativity.

Within the context of that struggle, I picked up your book. Like oxygen for my gasping soul, you penned the answers. I found permission in your pages: “…we as artists can glorify God simply in the creation of our art. We are like the flowers of the field, each of which glorifies our God simply by being what He created it to be. God created us to be artists, and thus we give God glory by simply exercising the act of creativity.”

Every chapter held enlightenment for me. From acknowledging that we were created in the image of a very creative God, and should express the creativity within us. To explaining that Christian artists don’t have to create overtly Christian pieces, but should let our work flow from our honest soul-stirring perspective on life. To helping me understand that we must live in community – not only within the camaraderie of the creative community, but also bringing our quirkiness, neediness, and controversy into the Church. To reminding me that, without discipline, an artist won’t grow and mature in her craft or faith. To validating that inner urge – that inner “call” - to create and communicate a worthy message for the sake of my soul and the sake of others’.

Manuel, thank you for committing careful time to the words of this book. You raised the bar for us. You called us to a high moral standard, and to a high creative standard. You’ve pulled us out of the safe walls of our church, into the more competitive and critical culture around us. You’ve challenged us to brave this world for the sake of our message. You’ve encouraged us to take the power of our art, and use it to inspire and educate others.

As I read your description of the Christian artist, I was compelled to want examples. Names of artists within various crafts who were actively living out what you’ve laid out in the pages of “Imagine That.” I would love to look up their work, peer into their “ministry,” and see how they have merged their faith, their culture, and their art. Now that I know it’s possible, I want to find others that are doing this. I’m determined to keep my eyes open for the Christian creatives, whose lives I can watch in order to see how this all works out together.

Thank you for making this freedom a reality for me. Thank you for giving a clear and concise “theology” of Christian artistry. I’m breathing easy now.

Kindest regards and gratitude,
Mandy Thompson

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1. Imagine That - Book Review
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