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The Injured Stormtrooper

Check out this funny fan film called "The Injured Stormtrooper".  Click here.

Grace Numbers 2/12/06

• Worship 1: 97
• Worship 2: 190
• Ministry Workers: 13
• Teachers: 37
• Children: 120
• Total attendance: 457

The Character of a Worship Leader

There's an email distribution list for worship leaders I subscribe to through Crosswalk.com.  I found this one pretty interesting.  What do you do with a leader who quits then wants to come back assuming the same role prior to walking away?  Read below and drop a comment.  I'd like to hear your thoughts on this issue.  Here's the email:

Q &A: The Character of a Worship Leader

Bob Kauflin, Worshipmatters.blogs.com

Question: We have a team of three worship leaders at our church. A fourth leader stepped down two years ago because he wasn't happy with the church leader. Since then we have been sharing the task between the three of us very successfully. The leader who stepped down now wants to return and lead worship once a month. He is an accomplished musician and we are happy for him to return. However, he is not prepared to come to rehearsals on the weeks we are leading, but will play on the Sunday. He does not want to involve us in "his week" and doesn't want to use other members of the worship team on the rotation. He is not interested in sharing the vision set by the church minister. He has caused a lot of upset in the past, but we are prepared to give him another chance. How do we persuade him to become part of a team, when he isn't interested in that? Answer: Thank you so much for your e-mail. God is pleased with your desire to sort this out in a way that honors Him. Serving in a leadership position in the church of Jesus Christ is not something we can choose to do on our own terms. God spells out specific qualifications for leaders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. While those are meant for elders in the church, those who lead corporate worship should attain to similar standards. The first characteristic of a leader is that he knows how to follow other leaders humbly. It doesn't sound as though the leader you're speaking of is in that place. Jesus makes clear what kind of leaders He is seeking in Matthew 20:25-28. "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." If this leader has no interest in sharing your vision, using other members of the team, or coming to rehearsals, he's in no place to lead God's people in giving Him honor. It's gracious of you to want to "give him another chance." However, what he needs most is clear instruction on the state of his heart and God's provision for him through the gospel. I would encourage your pastor to set up some time with him to explain what God's standards of leadership are. Your pastor should offer him specific examples of how he has not demonstrated those qualities in his life. From there, he needs to pursue a knowledge of his own sin, the wonderful mercy and forgiveness God has provided through the gospel, and the many means of grace God has given us in His Word, the church, prayer, etc. I'd encourage him to read books like The Enemy Within (Kris Lundgaard), The Discipline of Grace (Jerry Bridges), and Humility (Andrew Murray). Anyone who wants to lead worship must be a "lead worshiper." At this point your ex-worship leader seems more concerned with his own glory than God's. It would be counterproductive to give a place of leadership to such a man, regardless of his musical gifting. An unskilled, but humble, musician brings glory to God where a skilled, but proud one, cannot. May God give you wisdom in this process, and raise up many musicians in your church who recognize there is nothing they have that they did not receive (1Co 4:7). >> For Bob Kauflin's current columns, please visit his blog at www.worshipmatters.com.

Do You Journal?

About a year ago I had been keeping a journal.  I found that writing was a great way to keep my creative juices flowing. During the C3 Conference of 2005 at Fellowship Church, I left the journal at the hotel. And I'm such a goof I didn't bother putting my contact info in it.  Oh well.  Somebody out there has a journal full of useless thoughts and writings. 

My wife purchased me a new journal on Amazon and it just arrived.  Weehaa!!!  I'm pretty excited.  My only problem is that it's just so beautiful I don't want to mess it up with writing in it.  Does the first entry in a journal have to be incredibly profound? 

Do you journal?  If so, what do you write in yours?

Dress Code Anyone?

Well this topic was bound to be unavoidable.  With the new building will come....a dress code. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  Yep, today in the office we had a conversation about a dress code in our new facility.  Do we go with business casual?  Does it matter?  What type of impression do we want to convey to people who visit the office?  One of comfort and style?  Or one of discomfort and businesslike?

I was encouraged by our pastors to drop a note on my blog here to get some feedback from all you folks out there who may work on staff at a church.  Do you all have a dress code?  If so, what does it look like?  Is your weekend dress code different for volunteers than people on the stage? 

It'd be great to hear what y'all do in your offices.  This is not a conversation that any of us enjoy, but we want to be sure we convey the right image while maintaining a "relevant" culture in the work place.  I'm pretty much a t-shirt, jeans and Chuck Taylors kinda guy.  I think these days will soon be over.

Drop a note with your thoughts.  Thanks!

A Time and A Place

This is just sad.  This is not the first time a persons funeral was used as a political rally.  There's no place that some politicians won't use to further their goals.  Just sad. Read the story here. 

Guitar Worship

Thanks to Jim Williams our Youth Director/Facility Manager/Project Manager/many other things I can't think of right now, for allowing me the privilege to play his Les Paul guitar this weekend.  It's very rare that I get to play an electric guitar, and this past Sunday was one of those special occasions.  We played the Tree 63 song, King.  Great tune if you've never heard it.  It rocked!  I typically play the electric like an acoustic, but this week I stretched myself a bit while Brad, our ubertalented electric guitar player, led the song.  Thanks Jim for the loan.  Here's a pic of Brad bowing before his guitar...

And here's Brad getting a little Pete Townsend with it...sorry Jim, you were in the room, you just didn't see this...

Grace Building Updates

Stopped by the building today.  Man it's looking very nice.  We should know by February 16 the actual move in date. 

Here's a shot that was taken back in September 05.

Here's a shot taken today, February 6th.

Here's a shot from the stage back in September 05...

Here's a current shot from the stage.

Very exciting time for Grace.  Just three short months away...

Grace Numbers 2/5/06

There are people who refuse to visit a church simply because it meets in a school.  There's just something about a building to many folks that believe a church is about bricks and mortar.  No matter how much you can explain to a person that the church is the people not the building, there are those who just can't get past that. 

Lately at Grace we've been experiencing an influx of people visiting as they drive past our building. We sent out Christmas mailers back in December and have seen many folks crossing our doors from that.  During the next couple of months I thought I'd post our weekly attendance if any of you are curious about the process and effect a building project can possibly have on bringing folks through the doors.  We'd been averaging about 380-400 since October.  Here's today's attendance:

2/5/06 attendance: 451

Kinda Cool

I got a shout out on a Podcast the other day!  Yeah I know.  I'm sooooo cool.  Phil's got a great worship leading site over at baldworshipleader.com.  Check it out and be sure to check out the podcast.