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A note to worship leaders

// February 24th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // worship

First of all, let me clearly state that I do not lead worship by vocation and that these are merely observations. However, do know that I have studied the worship/arts ministry extensively and am someone that believes the worship leader is almost equally as important to the church as the senior pastor.

Here are 6 things I’d like to say to worship leaders:

1. Be responsible: Do you know why most churches lead off with a set of worship songs before a sermon is given? It’s a way for people to toss out all the junk they brought into the service and start presenting themselves before God. When people have had a chance to open up their hearts to God and forget about the cares of the world, they are more open to hearing and understanding his Word.As a worship leader, God is entrusting you with the church to help lead them into a spirit of worship. Unfortunately, I see a lot of worship leaders that are very gifted musically, yet aren’t taking the responsibility of leadership seriously.
2. Connect with the church: I can’t tell you how many times I have been in a church service and watched the worship leader worshiping God so deeply that their eyes were closed and they were disconnected with the rest of us. For anyone in the service not singing, they were watching one person singing worship and not drawn into the experience. Open your eyes people! While you may think you can lead by example, you can’t get people to follow you unless they get cues to do so. Draw them with your eye contact and expressions. Let God use you to help bring others into a spirit of worshiping him.
3. It’s not a competition: You are not there to compete with the preaching pastor for time in front of the audience. Going over-the-top for the sake of attention really robs God of his time of worship. As long as the music is stopped and people are listening to you speak, the longer God goes without worship. Please do engage your people and give them verbal cues for lyrics, maybe a quick scripture verse comment as you play the lead-in of a song, but please don’t try to be the center of attention by storytelling. It’s all about honoring God with our worship, not about you.
4. Know your people: One of the things that worship leaders may do is get too repetitive in a song. If your people will follow you and give their worship to God, by all means keep doing that. However, often times I’ve seen worship broken when people are asked to repeat a chorus five, six, eight times. If you’re leading, but your people aren’t following, you’re really not leading. If you feel God moving you to repeat a chorus numerous times, watch how your people respond. If they disconnect and start watching you to see when you’re gonna get to the next song, please don’t take them to that place in the future.
5. Cast the vision: While it may be your senior pastor that casts the vision for your church, know that you too are responsible to share that vision with the people. The songs you select can be very important to this. For example, the church plant I lead is called Revolution Church Sacramento. We have two songs that really speak to our vision. Our vision is: We seek to be a church of transformed people that God may use to help transform the lives of others in the Sacramento area. So, one of the songs that speaks to this is Revolution by Starfield, which ties into our name. The other song is God of This City by Chris Tomlin, which speaks to God moving in the hearts of people in our city and a call to the church because greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city. Your song selections can help reinforce the vision of your church. Of course, above all else, the songs must honor and glorify God and help reveal Christ
6. Impart your personality: You are unique and you bring that to your church. If you are a naturally bubbly person with a lot of enthusiasm, let that shine in your worship. Be expressive, compassionate, loving, passionate…whatever it is that is you, share that in your worship. It helps to make you more authentic–which actually helps to keep you from being a distraction to worship–and causes people to want to connect with you and worship God together with you. Don’t just be a figurehead on stage singing to God, let people see the real you!

What would you add to this list?

God of this city

// December 5th, 2008 // Comments Off // God, Sacramento, evangelism/outreach, jesus, ministry, people, prayer, rancho cordova, worship

As I ponder what’s next with the call God put in my heart to share the love & grace of the gospel of Christ, I am reminded of the powerful and thought-provoking words of the song God of This City by Chris Tomlin and how I was moved to tears when I first heard this song. The chorus tells us:

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

Won’t you take a moment to watch the video and let this song speak to you today?

[youtube]u008Ksx3mBU[/youtube]

You’re the God of this City
You’re the King of these people
You’re the Lord of this nation
You are

You’re the Light in this darkness
You’re the Hope to the hopeless
You’re the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our god
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

The narrow gate is not about doctrinal correctness

// November 25th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // Bible, Christianity, God, jesus, leadership, life, ministry, worship

On page 274 of The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard writes in regards to Jesus’ discourse in Matthew 7:13-27:

You enter this kingdom community, he first points out, by a narrow gate. That is, there is a correct way to enter, and not just any approach–the “wide way that leads to disaster”–will succeed (vv. 13-14)

He then goes on to say that those leaders that are to be trusted are the ones who actually learn to do what Jesus taught was best. That in calling Jesus Lord or doing great works in his name is simply not enough.

Willard contends it’s about hearing and obeying:

• “The one who hears him and does what he says accordingly builds the house of his or her life to be totally indestructible. The house is built upon a rock, not upon sand, where the winds of life will knock it down.”
• “The narrow gate is obedience–and the confidence in Jesus necessary to it”
• “The fruit of the good tree is obedience, which comes only from the kind of person we have come to be (the ‘inside’ of the tree) in his fellowship.”
• “Doing what he said, beginning from ‘believe on him whom God has sent,’ we step into the flow of God’s ways, we ‘enter the kingdom of the heavens.’”

Willard concludes that “in actually doing what Jesus knows to be best for us, we build a life that is absolutely indestructible, ‘on the Rock.’” The Rock of course being Christ.

The narrow gate is about doing the will of the Father and not about doctrinal correctness! For all of us that spend so much time studying and debating doctrine, do we sometimes disregard discipleship and living the life we are called to live so that others can see us as continuing to be learners of what Jesus taught, so that we may be trusted? Isn’t it really about being obedient to the Father, living in the grace of Christ’s sacrifice for all, as we give ourselves to him as an act of spiritual worship?

Asian church vs. multi-cultural church, part 1

// August 27th, 2008 // 5 Comments » // Bible, Christianity, God, church, church planting, church relevance, culture, diversity, evangelism/outreach, leadership, life, ministry, multi-cultural church, people, worship

It’s amazing to me that through a simple question so much information can be found through study and research in order to confirm an answer. I was asked the following question by a Korean friend:

What should be our attitude toward multi-cultural church? Should we seek it out or just build a church without actively seeking it?

As someone that has way more experience on this subject than me, I contacted DJ Chuang and got some insight from him, which he posted on his blog to illicit feedback from others to help as well. Then I started finding that through following blog links that this is a subject discussed a lot within the Asian-American context. As an Asian-American, this interests me a great deal. It seems that there is quite a lot of debate on the issue of having segregated Asian churches in the US or whether we should strive to be an amalgamation of one body within one homogeneous church.

For me, I really feel more comfortable in a multi-cultural church. I want church to be about loving God and loving others and being in-service to my fellow man rather than being served. I feel like being in an ethnic church makes it more about one’s heritage rather than about serving others. In a Korean church, the context of the message is going to be presented in a way relevant to the culture of Korea. Food will cater to Korean taste buds. So, what if God sends a Mexican family to a Korean church? Well, maybe they will connect, but most-likely I think they will feel out of place. Even if they connect, the church is probably so inwardly focused on reaching other Koreans than unchurched Mexican, Caucasian, African-American, Argentinian (etc.) people with the saving grace of Christ for both the Jew and the Gentile, that they will miss out on connecting others to the church and subsequently to the gospel of Christ.

One thing that puts me up against a lot of others in ministry is that I believe church was never intended to be safe and comfortable. The minute it is, where do we need to seek Jesus? If the church is feeling all warm and fuzzy then why would they want to venture out and attract those unlike them to be a part of their community? Jesus called upon the disciples to be challenged and always learning and growing. They were put in situations so risky that at times their life was dependent on whether or not they would be willing to die for their faith in Christ. I don’t think we can truly comprehend this idea in modern-day America.

Looking at the church and it’s amazingly rapid growth under oppression and persecution, it causes me to wonder something. They are Chinese and don’t really have options to worship in multi-cultural churches, but if religious freedom came about, I’m wondering what would happen. As a country that just hosted 200+ nations for the Olympic Summer Games and is reaching out to the US, Middle East & Europe and adopting some of our cultures into their way of life, would they really want to be just a church to the Chinese?

If we are to expect the kingdom of heaven to reign here on earth, will there be ethnically separated churches on that day? Are their segregated streets with segregated worship spaces in heaven? I seriously doubt it! So, we might as well realize that Christ has only one bride and it has nothing to do with our birthplace or skin color. It has to do with our love and faith as we set out in the journey to follow Christ.

For more thoughts, some of which go against my thoughts in this post, take a look at:

• Churches should stay segregated: http://waynepark.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/churches-should-stay-segregated/
• I could write pages and pages on this: http://www.randplaty.com/2008/08/06/i-could-write-pages-and-pages-on-this/#more-223
• Does a multi-cultural church need to be intentional?: http://www.djchuang.com/2008/does-a-multiethnic-church-have-to-be-intentional/
• Asian-American churches…the wave of the future?: http://www.randplaty.com/2008/07/26/asian-american-churches-the-wave-of-the-future/
• In class today: Mosaic Church: http://nextgenerasianchurch.com/2007/10/16/in-class-today-mosaic-churches/#more-352
• Why many Amerians prefer their Sundays segregated: http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/why-many-americans-prefer-their-sundays-segregated/

Your will on earth as it is in heaven…

// July 22nd, 2008 // Comments Off // Christianity, God, leadership, ministry, prayer, worship

I’ve been praying hard about a lot of things lately. Some days I wonder if I’m on-track with what God’s will is for my life. Some days I wonder if I am doing all I can in ministry to see others being discipled and new believers coming to know Christ for the first time.

As I was praying today the two questions that came with immediate answers were:

1. Could I really ever do anything outside of God’s will for my life?

2. What is God’s will for my life

Could I really ever do anything outside of God’s will? I really don’t think so. Even the bad things I’ve done can be used to bring glory to God. It’s crazy how some of those things have worked out, but it just points to proof for anyone that wants to believe that God obviously is in control of everything. In fact, this idea is revealed to us in Matthew 10:29-30 (AMP):

29Are not two little sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s leave (consent) and notice.

30But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

If it were not for God, I could nothing. He knows the number of hairs on my head, therefore he must know what I will do.

As for what is God’s will in my life? Man, I really pray about that a lot. However, I think that is pretty clear. It came to me tonight. Ready to know what seems to be the secret every Christian wants to know? The answer is that God wants me to worship and honor Him all the days of my life and that I am to love others as I want to be loved myself. Christ is in me because as He loves me, His Spirit can move through me to love other people. Loving God and loving others is really what God’s will is for our lives. Jesus explains this in Matthew 22, verses 34-40 in the New Century Version like this:

34When the Pharisees learned that the Sadducees could not argue with Jesus’ answers to them, the Pharisees met together. 35One Pharisee, who was an expert on the law of Moses, asked Jesus this question to test him: 36″Teacher, which command in the law is the most important?”

37Jesus answered, ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ 38This is the first and most important command.39And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ 40All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.”

It’s not about setting my mind to doing more ministry or the right kind of ministry, but if I love God and worship Him and love others then I will be doing His will and I will see the kingdom of earth on heaven and I will know which open doors to walk through and recognize the righteous path to follow on my journey here on earth.

Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.