Church services for 12 July, 2009

ALL - IN THIS SUNDAY 2-4pm.
SONGS TO BE LEARNED:
"HE IS LORD" AND "UNSHAKEABLE"

This week saw our senior pastor share the first part of the new vision for the church. There was a sense of anticipation and excitement around these services, and I thought the worship leaders prepared well and created a great atmosphere.

10am service

Crown Him With Many Crowns
Majestic
welcome / interview
Amazing Love (You are my King)
For the Cause
Prayer / communion
Reading / sermon
God of this City

6pm service

Look What You've Done
Blessed be Your Name
Majestic
Welcome / interview / prayer
How Great is Our God
Communion
sermon
God of this City

I'd like to comment on both services at once as they are relevant to both.

From where I was standing (in the congregation in the morning, behind keyboard at night) I thought that the music and tech was of a great standard. I know from my own playing that there were some things that I could improve on and you all are good enough to know where you also can improve (although only small areas). So keep on keeping on improving, won't you. And I could continue in this blog patting you on the back, for which there is merit, but I will settle for saying it is an absolute honour working with you all excellent musicians and tech crew, what a standard we have at church. Amazing.

I have been thinking about as we improve in this ministry (and I can see that we are doing that), we also need to improve in the worship / spiritual side of it as well. Music is such a great vessel and such a beautiful art form that it is good to use it to create what we want. And in general, the worship team members are really good at doing this. But as I have discussed before, if we leave the congregation behind, then we have missed the point. I must say here that I think that we haven't been leaving the congregation behind, and that some great worship occurred as a result of the music on Sunday.

As we prepare for worship on a Sunday, let's focus on the God that gave us the gift, not just the beautiful music that we can create. I am also talking to myself here, as I like to make a habit of making every performance I do, whether worship music or in the secular world, be an offering of worship to God. Sometimes I forget, though, and think that music is just my trade, and I do the job and go home. I want to remember (and hope that you remember also) that it is an absolute honour to have such a cool skill as music (and supporting tech) to use to worship God. And not only that, to lead others in worship. How absolutely amazing and such a big responsibility.

So how do we do this? Simple. Keep talking to God, reading his word, worshipping him in everything that you do. We are all leaders (not just the worship leaders) in the team, so we need to lead by example. Make a habit of shooting up a prayer before you play anything in any context to say "this is for you, God. I hope you like it, thanks for the gift, please help me do my job".

As this church gets bigger and stronger, we can't have weaknesses, particularly in this area. Keep up your good work.

Romans 12:1 (The Message) So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I'd love your feedback, comment on the blog (you'll just need to sign in with a Google account). Love you all. See you Sunday at the all-in.