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HUGE Worship Resource Giveaway

February 17, 2011 in Uncategorized with 1 Comment

UPDATE: The contest is over, but Proclaim is now available to try out in beta.

Who doesn’t like to get great stuff? Especially if you’re involved with worship ministry and regularly deal with tight budgets and limited resources. But how often does it seem that a giveaway offers a great prize, but the odds of winning are huge? And if you’re like me, it seems like you never win the big prizes, or know anybody who does.

If that’s you, then let me share with you about the

$25,000 Worship Resource Giveaway from Proclaim

New church presentation software is coming out soon called Proclaim and it’s located here http://proclaimonline.com. Unlike all other church presentation software systems, this one will allow pastors, worship leaders, and worship team members to all access and add to the same presentation before it’s presented, and then use the same application to run the presentation during the service. Instead of being a product that you have to install, it’s web-based.

To add to the excitement of the release of Proclaim, they are giving away $25,000 in worship resources in The Great Worship Resource Giveaway. They are going to have 100’s of winners of some of the best worship resources on the market. The giveaway is located on the Proclaim home page http://proclaimonline.com where you will see how to enter. You can also see all the prize partners there, listing out some great resources from companies like Planning Center Online, Graceway Media, Worship Leader Magazine, Centerline Media, Musicademy, Clover Sites, Christian Musician Summit, Luna Guitars, National Worship Leader Conference, and prizes from many more. These are some great resources. I’ve used many of them, and they are top notch companies with top notch products.

I’m excited about this new product Proclaim. It looks to be really awesome and flexible, especially for those in a situation where a lot of volunteers work at preparing media for Sundays. You can see a video of the software on their site which gives a quick detail of how it will help worship leaders and ministry teams. Visit http://proclaimonline.com to see the video, and enter ‘The $25,000 Great Worship Resource Giveaway’.

A Changing Season for Us

January 18, 2011 in Personal with 10 Comments

I’ve always been fascinated with how we use the word ‘season’ in the church world to refer to the different phases and periods of our life. And when we begin to move out of one period into a new period (hopefully because God is leading us to do so), we refer to the changing seasons in our life.

Beck and I find ourselves in one of those times of change. This past Sunday (Jan 16 2011), we announced to the church where we currently serve that our season of ministry with them is coming to a close. As of March 31, 2011, we will no longer serve our current church as Worship Pastor. There are a lot of factors that are at play here, and we are responding to the obvious signs that it is time.

The challenge is that we do not know what will be our next step. We are confident that God will provide for us another church ministry opportunity. We are sure of His call on our lives and that He has equipped us as He has with gifts, passions, and abilities for the purpose of serving in pastoral roles. Part of that calling (at least in this ‘season’ of life) is using worship and the arts to creatively tell and engage people with God’s story so that we together can remember and respond.

Please join us in prayer at this time. Pray that the period of transition with go smoothly and be God-honoring. Pray that He will provide that next place of ministry at just the right time. Granted, we would prefer that right time to be by the end of March, but we know that God will provide what we need when we need it.

I’ve included the text of what was shared by me to the church family on Sunday. Feel free to click through for the full content.

Thanks.

Expectations When Leading…

October 13, 2010 in Worship Leading with 0 Comments

(Note: This post is actually a devotional I wrote and shared with the worship team this past weekend. It is definitely focused more at those who serve in worship ministry, but the principles are good questions for anyone. Feel free to use it with your worship team if you would like. And be honest…)

When we gather to rehearse and lead worship for the church, what is our expectation? What is your personal expectation? What is your expectation for the team, the congregation, the service, the songs, and so forth?

We all have expectations. They are an inherent part of us, often shaped by past experiences, things we’ve seen or done or heard, our hopes and dreams, and sometimes other people’s expectations. They can be appropriate or inappropriate. They can be challenge us, terrify us, mobilize us, immobilize us, or empower us.

So, what are our expectations? Do we expect to play the songs perfectly? Do we expect the congregation to sing loudly and raise their hands? Do we expect the congregation to engage. Do we expect to be able to demonstrate our own particular gift or ability and the latest riff? Do we expect to be able to wow people with how well we play and sing together?

Take a minute and think about it. What are your expectations each time we gather as a church. Each time we serve as a worship team? What are your expectations as you serve this weekend?

(If doing this with a group, have everyone share something.)

What about when our expectations are not met? What happens then?

Do we expect God to show up? Do we expect Him to speak to us and reveal His glory to us? Do we expect Him to draw us together as the Body of Christ? Do we expect God to be in our midst, enthroned on our praises, and guiding His people? Do we expect to remember and experience the goodness of God once again? Do we expect (and pray) that people will come hungry and seeking God?

The Psalmist writes in chapter 5:
Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my sighing.
Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

And then later he writes:
But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.

May we always expect God’s goodness and His glory as we gather and serve. May our heart expectations be righteous in the Lord’s site so that our excellent offering may honor Him.

Pray that any expectations would be aligned with God’s heart and focused on Jesus.

Worshiping Together: 5/16/10

May 18, 2010 in Sunday Setlist with 1 Comment

This week we continued in our series “Improving Our Serve.” We took a look at what it means to have fruitful service that is empowered by Christ and not out of our own self. Our basis was a number of lessons that can be learned from the Christ’s teaching about the vine and branches in John 15:1-8.

Our time of worship through music drew our attention to the sufficiency of what Christ has already done and that in Him and Him alone is everything we need for life and godliness. We don’t serve to earn or maintain our salvation, for that is found in Christ alone. When we have a right perspective, our life and service flows out of Christ and we find joy and song in the complete work of Christ in us for the Father’s glory.

As with other weeks in this month, we had some special elements, but everything seemed to work together as we worshiped this past Sunday. Continue Reading…

Online Tools I Would Miss If They Disappeared, Part 1

February 13, 2010 in Random with 2 Comments

Disclaimer: None of these companies/products are giving me anything to talk about them. I just like them a lot.

As I do life and ministry, there are number of online tools that I find extremely helpful. I thought I would share a little about them. If you have more questions, or if I can help you get hooked up with them, let me know. These tools are a huge help for me to keep things organized, tracked, and synchronized. Very important when you have a lot of irons in the fire.

Dropbox is an online sharing, synching, and backup tool. But it’s not just about dumping stuff on someone’s web server and hope they don’t lose it for you. Dropbox is a web-based service, yes, but it is also a computer based service. What happens is that you download a small program that you install (windows, mac, and linux compatible). Once you install the program, you end up with a special folder on your computer(s) called “My Dropbox” and a small tray application. As you move files into the My Dropbox folder, they are automatically uploaded to your account at www.dropbox.com. Here’s where the cool part comes in. Your files are then available on your original computer, under your account on the Dropbox website, and also on any other computer that you connect to your Dropbox account. You can even view your files on any web enabled device (like everyone’s favorite the iPhone or iPod Touch).

The folders automatically sync with each other, and if you accidentally delete something, Dropbox saves it for 30 more days. You can share files with other Dropbox users, and you can even share files with folks who don’t have Dropbox yet by sending them a special link.

All this for the low, low, price of free for 2GB of storage space. You can gain more storage space if you refer someone and they sign up. If you need lots of space, you can increase with a paid plan.

I’ve been using Dropbox for a while now to have easy access to ministry related files, stuff I want to transfer from home to work, and other stuff. It’s been great. If you would like to try it out, use this link, and we will both get a 250MB bonus added to our limit.

Worship: Reverence v. Relevance

September 2, 2009 in Media, Worship Leading with 0 Comments

Yesterday, I watched an online webinar/broadcast of the discussion and tension many churches are still facing between reverence in worship and relevance in worship. It was put on by LifeWay Worship, and featured Ed Stetzer and Mike Harland talking about, debating, and answering questions on this topic.

It’s a tension that is still very strong and very dividing in many churches and among many Christians. Yet, if we can get a handle on this and a proper biblical perspective, we could go far in showing the world what it means to live and worship in harmony and that Jesus really does make a difference.

If you are involved in worship ministry in your church or just simply have a heart for worship, I encourage you to take an hour to watch this. It’s available on-demand at http://lifeway.com/RvR. Thanks to the LifeWay team for doing this.

Check it out and let me know what you think.