My Worship Revolution

Yup.  It’s been almost a year since my last Worship Confessional.
My very first week at CLC I started doing Worship Confessionals.
Do I thought it fitting to do one for my last week on staff as well.
That, and several people insisted I record the ‘Bromance Mash Up.’

The Set
Hosanna
You’re Alive

Bromance Mash Up

You Gave Your Life Away
Restless
Glory To God

I was told by some that we have the worst clapping church in history.  So we played this instructional video before worship to start off with a bit of fun.
Restless was awesome to introduce.  Unfortunately I capoed the wrong fret and I’m ticked at myself cause it would have been a bit better up a step.
Singing Guy Love with Chris was awesome and actually went over better than I expected it to I think.
It was a lot of fun to roch out with a full band for my last week after 3 years of worshipping hard with our CLC family.

Below is a recap of the whole morning with clips.
And below that I embedded Guy Love in it’s entirety for your viewing pleasure.

And there you have it.
That was yesterday.
And today marks the beginning of a new chapter for us.
CLC – thanks again for going to the throne with us every week, for investing in us and in the lives of our kids, and for loving us during this season of ministry.  We are praying that God will bless CLC greatly and do amazing things there in 2010.

I’m in the process of rapidly getting website and other info rolling for the new church.
Our name at this point, which will most likely stick, is Missio Dei Community.
Why?  Well, that’s another post that I’ll share soon.
The quick and easy info…it’s latin and means “mission of God.”

SO – I thought you could help me to pick the best URL for the website.
Poll should be embedded below.
And please feel free to leave any comments here as well.

Thanks for helping!

Today I drive to Tracy for a meeting with the church multiplication team for Converge, the denomination that we are partnering with in our church planting adventure (formerly Baptist General Conference).  This is where things will be officially finalized and kicked into high gear.

Rachel and I have known for a number of years now that God has called us to a ministry of church planting and multiplication.  But we always knew we didn’t want to just go at it alone.  Even in a context where we are simplifying our ideas of what ‘church’ is and using an atypical approach and model to church planting, we recognize that there is great wisdom in 2000 years of church history.  There is great value in being coached by those who have done it before and being connected to those who are in the trenches as well.  So why Converge you may ask.

Over the past year we looked at several organizations and talked with multiple people.  On one hand I give two reasons that I was drawn to Converge…primarily.  One – they major on the majors.  Two – they aren’t tied to one model of church planting (at least not in our district anyway).
But in addition to that, they are a movement with a history and passion for starting and multiplying churches.

Ed Stetzer is the author of several books and a very well known and reputable name when it comes to church planting and leadership.  A few months back he spoke at a Converge event, and this is what he had to say about the denomination:

I have written before that I believe that Converge Worldwide is the leading mid-size church planting denomination in America today. Just a few months ago, I was in California training their church planters. Today, it seemed like most of the attendees at the meeting had planted the churches they pastored. They ooze church planting– and it has changed their denomination for the better.

In denominational life, as in so many areas of life, what you celebrate, you become. Meetings in some denominations are “celebrating” everything BUT church planting. But, by celebrating church planting, the folks at Converge Worldwide have created a momentum that has transformed their movement.

Check out the rest of Ed’s blog post here.
Just one of the many reasons I’m excited about working with the crew at Converge.

Allow me to briefly share with you the highlight of my week at Recreate.
Soon after I’ll fill you in on more of the week.

Today is the release date for an album called Beautiful Things from a band called Gungor.
Formerly Michael Gungor Band.

Truth is, I wasn’t really looking all that forward to Gungor.
No good reason.  Only I knew he had helped write Friend Of God, and I shared a few weeks ago about my love for that song.
Didn’t really know much else about him.
OH MY GOODNESS.
Now I know that he is possibly the best musician in Christian music out there right now.
(I know some would say that doesn’t mean much, but he’s better than most secular artists too, if that helps.)

The concert would be better referred to as an experience.
There was media that went with it, a 10 piece band including a cello, violins, a xylophone, and a freaking keytar of all things!
It was written in 2 movements – dust and breath.
I was quickly immersed in this spiritual musical experience that absolutely blew me, and everyone else in the room, away.
At one point, they were playing and I remember feeling so raptured by the beauty of the music and emotion and I looked around to see hands in the air and tears on faces around me.
Mind you this was during a long stretch of purely instrumental music – no words.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen music in and of itself effect people in such a way in the culture we live in.
Chris Vacher wrote a great post about the experience over here.

Real quick, let me invite you to check out 2 videos.
The first one below is them sharing about their new album and the experience.
Right below that is a little video I put together from Recreate.  The first 6 minutes or so are the start of their performance.  Then, there is a clip from Kim who was sitting next to me of the last minute.
You gotta love all the heads bobbing in unison at 7:05.

The video doesn’t even begin to do it justice.
But at least it gives you a small sense of how we responded that afternoon.

I highly recommend that you go buy that album now.
Enjoy.

Being in a room where I get to be way out of my league.

After high school I moved to Orange County to join The Young Americans.
I had spent 6 years in choirs at my school and doing theater.
In some ways, I had become one of the “big fish” in the pond.
When I started rehearsing with Young Americans, I found that I was among the best of the best from all over the country.
Most of the people in the room could blow me out of the water in at least one discipline, if not several.
Sure it was intimidating at times.
But even more than that, it was inspiring.
It was challenging.
It made me better.
I was able to learn from the people around me.
Just being with them pushed me to be better at everything.  There was no other choice.

That’s kinda how Recreate is for me in the ministry world.
Tonight I had dinner between Leeland, an incredible recording artist and even more incredible worship leader, and JVo, a pastor and one of the most creative people I’ve ever met in my life.
Today I had a one-on-one discussion with Ian Morgan Cron, author of Chasing Francis, about how I can better live out contemplative spirituality in my daily life.
I get to learn from Randy Elrod, another incredibly creative dreamer and entrepreneur who has been a mentor to some of the biggest names in the Christian music world.
I get to pick the brain of my friend Bobby Triplett who planted a church a year and a half ago in a very similar fashion to how we are, and he is doing it well.
I could go on for a while like this.

The point is, being around these people inspires me.
Most of them are light years beyond me, and rather than be intimidated by that, I choose to learn from them and be challenged to better myself.
That’s just one of the many reasons this has become such a valuable week in my life every year I am able to make it out here.

How about you?
Who are you surrounding yourself with that is better than you?
How are you being challenged to better yourself?

Typically I end my day from Recreate with a recap of the day and the speakers with some pictures and videos to bring you along for the ride.
Screw that.
Don’t worry.
I’ll catch you up at some point.
But tonight, instead of the details of the facts, let me quickly update you on another storyline of the conference.
A more intangible storyline.
A more hidden reality.

Often times, when I have those weekends, weeks, whatever, of getting away with God, a theme starts to arise.
It’s what God is doing in the midst of it all to transform and mold my heart.
Regardless of all the great concerts and provocative speakers, that is the part that really matters.

You may have picked up on that theme in my last post.
The title alone starts to hint at it.
It’s the line that grabbed me by the throat in that prayer this morning.

Tonight we had a concert with artists from Word record label.
Meredith Andrews, Patrick Ryan Clark, and Matt Boswell played several song in turn that they wrote.
Then Pocket Full of Rocks rocked the house for a while.
I enjoyed the music, but wasn’t truly engaged.
It’s at times that we least expect it that God breaks in and disrupts our state of mundane complacency.
Pocket Full invited the other three singers up to end in a final worship song and pray over us.
They had us close our eyes, pray, and then started singing.
The chorus of the song they sang…

How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

Next thing I know I was on my feet, eyes closed, tears streaming down my face.
As I pondered what God was doing, it occured to me one of the things God is getting to me about.
How wonderful my Savior’s love for me…
I believe that.  I really, really do.
But I think deep down, I still feel at times like I have to earn it.
I know I don’t.
But in action, I don’t know how to just be.
Will God really approve of me if our church planting efforts fall flat?
Will he really love me if I don’t please him by caring for the least of these?
There’s something to be said for these things.  Yes, they matter to God.
But he loves me, he delights in me, because I’m his.
Period.

I think this is why for the past year the idea and concept of contemplative spirituality and the mystic side of our Christian faith has been drawing me in.
I need it.
I need to learn how to be.
Then I can go and do out of my being.
It’s not always easy, but it’s a great journey to be on.

I’ve had this poem up on a tab on my internet for the past month or so.
I was waiting to post it in the next couple of weeks when I start posting more about our church planting journey.
I read it and it hit me right between the eyes because it expressed so well how I am feeling heading into this season of life.
Then, during worship this morning at Recreate, Ian Morgan Cron used it for a Lectio Divina exercise.
Wow.
It already had some pretty deep meaning for me.
This morning gave it a while new meaning.
That’s God.
Enjoy.

I flew in to Nashville airport at 3:35pm and my week at Recreate has begun.
Only in Nashville would you pass by 2 live music venues in the airport.
My friend Mark picked me up and we made our way over to Puckett’s Grocery for the opening evening, arriving a bit early.

After we arrived, we found that there was a massage chair and some free massages.

I grabbed a good front and center seat at a dinner table for the evenings music and settled in for my rub down.

As people started showed up we all started mingling.
As I twittered earlier, any week that begins with a massage and a pint of beer promises to be a really great week!
I wasn’t able to come last year.  It was SO great to see so many of these people again.
It’s amazing how from just this one week in a couple of past years you really get to know these peeps and it was so refreshing to say hey and to catch up with them.  There is this instant camaraderie you have as Recreators.
Tonight was sponsored by Compassion, so we had some great food and alongside Spence Smith, Dan Perkins shared some about their churches trip to Togo.

After an amazing meal and dessert, Amy Grant opened us up with a small concert.

Now I have to admit, Rachel is the Amy Grant fan of the family.  Me, not so much.  Was just kinda before my time.
But truth be told, she has been pretty amazing the 2 times I’ve seen her here at Recreate.
She’s done a pretty good job of keeping her sound pretty recent.  And also, there is a depth to her songs and lyrics that I appreciate that I don’t feel as much in the old school stuff.  Unfortunately, I think that has probably come from some painful life experiences and being open and authentic with some of that, but I guess that is how God refines us most of the time.

Here’s a couple vids of her playing:

And of course, in a room full of worship pastors, everyone started singing along with this classic…

And in honor of Rachel, I did have to get a pic with Amy to bring home..

I told her that my wife was a big fan.
I think she kinda thought I was a kook.

Finally, this is what was going on outside as we were enjoying the night…

Apparently, they aren’t so used to snow on the roads here.
But this CA boy enjoyed it!

Now to get some sleep to be ready for all of the fun that awaits us tomorrow!

This morning I hop a plane to Nashville, TN to rejoin the fraternity like gathering/unconference that is Recreate.
It’s probably a little late to be telling you this, but if you are in creative ministry and/or a forward thinker, you have got to get out to this thing.
The relationships I’ve made here have been priceless.
The effect that this single gathering has had on my leadership over the past 4 years is beyond explanation.
I didn’t think I was gonna make it this year because of finances.
But after getting a huge blessing for the cost of registration, and God lining up a free flight (thanks Charlie!) and lodging, I am so super stoked to be on my way.
A great jump start to me for the journey ahead of us.

I’ll definitely try to blog as much of it as I can along the way.
If you wanna check out some past blogs from Recreate, click here.
For a glimpse of our week ahead click here.

After our week at the assessment center, Rachel and I had the privilege of attending the annual ICTN triathlon camp in Tucson, AZ.
Last year, through Dan, I was invited to come lead worship, an element they hadn’t regularly had.  Micah was due a week or two later, so no way I was getting away from my wife with her ready to pop and chasing a 2 year old around the house.

This year it worked out perfectly though, with Rachel’s parents just keeping the kids a few extra days.
We missed most of Friday, but got a day and a half in with Sat. and Sun.
We caught a session in the morning on how to raise money for charity through the sport, and then I bailed on a second breakout to get my gear ready for a ride up Mt. Lemmon.

So this was my first ride in probably 5 months or so.  Not on the training schedule yet.
So after all was said and done, for me it was about a 30 mile ride, riding out to the base of the mountain, riding up to mile 4, then headin back in.
Of course I only head back so I could get there early to set up for worship.  Had nothing to do with fitness level.
Of course, as I turned to come back down, I went to down shift and realized I never switched into my easier gears of my front 2.  So I guess I worked a lot harder than I had to.
A few pics from the ride:

That night we got to lead worship and then again in the morning.
It was so fun to lead in this context, especially having these two passions of Jesus and triathlon that everyone in the room had in common.
Worked out nice that we I also came away from it with a free wetsuit, a jug of Heed, and Rachel and I both were offered a free training plan from a coach we connected with there.
The best part really was getting to connect with a lot of really great people.  If we are blessed with the opportunity again, we look forward to getting to see all those people again in the future.

Rachel is training for her first sprint this summer.
I asked her if this gave her more of an appreciation for Triathlon…

Rachel: Not necessarily.  Gives me a better idea how I can share my faith in the process.  But I think it makes me more scared for my first one.
Me:  Scared?  Why?  I’d think you should be encouraged.
Rachel: Those people are crazy!  They bike and run all the time and they talk about it as if it’s fun!!

Ha!  That cracked me up.
Another post coming soon as to why I think she just hasn’t gotten addicted quite yet.