A Personal Prayer for Living in Today's Divided World

Lord, may my words today be soft, gentle, and wise.
May my compassion be judged as genuine.
Forbid that my passion for my personal moral creeds be seen as hateful, while having the strength to anchor myself in the harbor of the foundations of your Word.
Allow that I may be indeed slow to speak and eager to listen.
Permit me to exercise the wisdom of the forgotten act of being silent and writing in the sand, rather than my haste to judgement
Undergird me with a foundation in which my joy cannot be stolen, but instead shared
Help me to never be so inaccessible that I am seen as uncaring, yet have the resolve to retreat for times of solitude when my soul's health is at risk
Enable me a thirst for the Word of God, and let my joy be the Kingdom's joy.
Eliminate in me the desire to brood in the things of no significance
Grant me the patience to overlook the interruptions in my plans to see the potential blessings of Yours.
Remind me often of Your presence, even in times where I am the one who is hiding.
Show me regularly my place in Your plan, and point me in the tasks in where I can be best used of You in the moment.
Instill in me that the knock at the door, the footsteps in the hall, and the ringing phone are not always envoys of burden and ill-will.
Ensure that I remember to not neglect the maintenance of my faith

This I pray in the Spirit, thankful for Christ as my intercessor.  Amen.

Responsive Reading “We Stand Thankful”

by Chris V. Bridges

Reader:  In times of plenty, and in times of want

People: We stand thankful for both the blessings and challenges that You give to make us strong

Reader:  In times of the drudge of the daily grind, and in times of jubilant celebration

People:  We stand thankful for opportunities for rest and thankful for spiritual zeal

Reader:  In times of hunger, in times of thirst

People: We stand thankful for your provision to meet our needs

Reader: In times of health, in times of sickness

People:  We stand thankful for your healing, your miracles, and your ever present hand upon us.

Reader: In times of sin, selfishness, and our disobedience

People: We stand thankful You are a God who restores, forgives, and saves

Reader: In times of disagreement, disorder, unrest, or uncertainty

People:  We stand thankful that You are a God of order in the chaos, and that you never change.

Reader: In times of terror, heartbreak, or struggle

People:  We stand thankful that You will never leave us nor forsake us

Reader: In times like this, where we pause to recognize all of who You are

People: We stand thankful Reader: Let this be our Thanksgiving prayer both for this time, and always

The Death of "Extra-Curricular" Church: An Essay

Somewhere it happened.  Maybe it was a community paradigm shift.  Maybe it was a growing lack of zeal by the church as a whole.  Maybe it was too much competition between secular and sacred choices. But it's happened...the death of extra-curricular church.  

What do I mean by this?  For the purposes of this discussion, let's define "extra-curricular church" as any activity or ministry outside of the primary worship service(s) or Bible study time.  As I was growing up, the church was not just a place for Sunday worship and possibly one other gathering (Sunday night or Wednesday night), it was a hub of family activity.  The church was not just a Sunday or Wednesday place....it was a Monday place, a Tuesday place, an all week place.  This is not to say that every waking hour was or should have been spent there.  But there was whole-family participation in meaningful pursuits beyond a primary worship service and a Bible Study.  There were weekly prospect & evangelistic visitations, Christian sports leagues, faith-based support groups, specialized music ensembles, and all seemed to be well-attended and successful.  In many cases the church stepped in to fill gaps the school and community were not filling.  

It seems though, in the last 20 years school and community sports, and other pay to play activities like dance, martial arts, private music lessons, etc. has exploded in growth.  It's a good thing to see community growth and connections, as they lead to witnessing opportunities in wider venues.  But, the church has seemed to at best, provide lower-quality alternatives, and at worst have thrown up their hands in surrender.  This has led to churches normally bustling with growth to go dark on nights other than Sunday or Wednesday.  In some cases I've seen hints of anger from church workers almost with an "if you build it they should come" mentality, thinking any church event they put on should automatically and enthusiastically supported by all its members and the community.  But sadly, these events are often planned with minimal effort and little sacrifice, and isn't prayerfully supported or well-organized.  Given, church resources play into this, and some churches do not have the monetary or physical resources to do things in the way they want.  But sometimes money is more of an excuse for what is really a lack or spiritual drive behind what could be something really special. 

Before solutions can be offered, the first question to be explored is "should we even try to fix this?"  Should the church cease to try to be an "all things to all people" sort of place?  I am not sure that I know the best answer,  but I have a few ideas that can maybe help us in this transitional time in the church's history.

Rediscover the Uniquness and Centrality of the Gospel

The first and most obvious question we should ask is what makes the church unique amidst the plethora of other community organizations and extra-curricular diversions we choose to support with our participation?  The answer should be obvious: the gospel message and the centrality that the truth that Jesus Christ offers a hope that absolutely nothing can substitute for.  Once this becomes central again, no financial problems or other lack or resources can derail the mission of Christ's church.  

Assess and Purge

I have seen many churches I have been a part of get to a point where a traditional, maybe even historic ministry steeped in many years of success come against the brick wall of unexplainable attrition.  Why would God no longer resource and equip a beloved ministry that has in the past experienced great success and produced much fruit?  It is at these times we must pray for one of two things: for God to provide the resources (people of finances) for its continuation, or ask if it is in His will for the program to end.  Has research been gathered within the church and community about the passion level for it to continue?  Does the ministry fit the community context where God has placed the church?  I firmly believe, and have personally experienced times of drought in the life of a program or ministry which I thought was the Lord's clear voice that the end was near, only to discover that the Lord had put us in a period of testing.  After that time, the Lord again equipped, staffed, and rejuvenated it, to my surprise. Sometimes this lead to an almost Jonah-like bitterness for me, as happened when the Ninevites unexpectedly repented.  So, don't be eager to throw programs into the fire too soon, but at the same time, don't be reluctant to discard, reinvent, or suspend that which is truly ineffective.  

Simplify and Refocus

In the midst of the program reanalysis and purging, you may often find that the elimination of programs can sometimes free up resources that allow people to explore other gifts and passions, not to mention the obvious lightening of financial burdens.  What many churches do then, is try to fill the void with creation of other programs that become just as, or more draining than the predecessors they replaced.  Resist this temptation!  Churches, like nature, tends to abhor a vacuum.  Instead, good leadership from the pastoral staff and communication with leaders and influencers should lead to discussion of priorities and voids which need to be filled.  In turn, this may lead to an actual reallocation of resources into other existing, but emerging areas of ministry.  The end of one ministry doesn't automatically call for the creation of another.  Simplify.  Simplify.  Simplify.  In God's economy, I believe it's often better to do simple things well than complex things poorly. Likewise, it's better to do fewer ministries with excellence than many things watered down.  The Lord will make clear what the new focus is in His time. Until then, pray, continue self-assessing, purge if necessary, and wait on the Lord.  

So with these starting steps in mind, this brings us back to our original query about the death of the extra-curricular church.  You could argue though, after implementing these steps, that the absence of activity caused by simplification and the purging of unsuccessful ministries could lead to the church further forfeiting its grasp of the extra-curricular, allowing other entities to sweep in and monopolize the time of families. There is potential for that in certain situations where programs and services are eliminated prematurely.  However, the church has already lost that battle in the last decade for the most part anyway, and Christ-centric churches that are using their resources well are actually poised to succeed in this environment.  Why?  I believe that in the end, there is no secular equivalent to find true lifelong (and in fact eternal) significance and purpose. There is no athletic pursuit that can supersede the victory over death. There is no artistic endeavor that will ever be as beautiful as God's grace and forgiveness. Until the return of Christ, there will always be a human longing for the connection to something bigger than the shallow worldview today's society offers.  This is one of the reasons I believe our generation is filling their schedules with the pursuits that provide this satisfaction.  And they find it, in a temporary form, in this saturation of extra-curricular involvement.  But, never truly fulfilled, they continue adding activity upon activity, jumping from venue to venue, and from diversion to diversion.  

The church is partially to blame for this, though.  In its failure to be Christ-centered, it no longer gave a compelling significant reason for families to be connected.  In its poor stewardship of resources, it created programs that were not spiritually fulfilling, and also of poor quality.  In its quest to be all things to all people, the church failed at being the one thing it really needed to be.  

Can the church go back to being the hub of activity for the life of a family? I believe it can, but the damage done cannot be undone quickly.  It will take bold and prayerful leadership, hard choices, good stewardship, and consistency.  And once there, the church should remain vigilant in being all that is equipped by God Almighty to be, not be everything to everybody.  And what is to become of the abandoned or sparsely attended weeknight church activities - are they gone forever? For many churches, they may need to be gone for a season, until the spiritual and stewardship foundations are back in the right places. Only then can they return, when the people yearn for more of God's heart, and submit themselves to His kingdom plans for the mission of the local church.

Theory and Practice

I remember the first time I heard the phrase "theory and practice."  It was my freshman year as a music student and one of our textbooks was called "Music in Theory and Practice."  Much of collegiate education focuses on a balance between the "theoretical" (the philosophy, history, and nuts and bolts of something) and the "practical " (the day-to-day, hands-on, in the moment use of something).  I'm sad to report that both in collegiate and my graduate classes, for the most part, it was heavy on the philosophic and light on the practical.

I have recently thought about these two words again in light of our worship experience and how polarized we are about elements within it, whether it be traditional music vs. contemporary music OR reverence vs. celebration.  In some ways, when you break these hot-button debates down, there is a "theory vs. practice argument" in place here as well.

Traditional hymnody appeals to the intellectual side of what we do, or the "theoretical" side.  The same can be said for those that desire a more quiet and reflective atmosphere in worship.  Reflection stimulates thought, and this thought is what helps us ponder, philosophize, and engage our intellect.  These are valid and Biblical things.

Contemporary worship songs are lyrically and musically designed to engage on a more emotional level.  Our emotions reflect the "here and now" of our who we are.  We can get emotional over nostalgic things for sure, but for the most part, our emotions are a very "practical" thing.  They are in the present and are reactionary to our immediate surroundings.  Thus, charismatic music, celebratory songs, and mantra-ish repetition (hear me: not necessarily a bad thing) engage the emotions, and are a loose parallel to the "practical" side of this comparison.  Guess what - also valid and Biblical parts of our worship experience.

I don't think we give Mark 12:30, known as the greatest commandment, it's full emphasis of the balance of loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength.  This is especially true when we become critical of one of the two "sides" I've mentioned.

So, just like trained classical musicians like myself should be theorist and practitioners, in our worship we should worship God, in theory, and in practice.

There's an app for that.

"There's an app for that."  The Apple slogan reminds us that within their grand and glorious app store lies the answer to all of our problems.  Any need that we have, had, or would ever have can be fulfilled totally and completely by the tiny wondrous icons that fill it's inner sanctum.  Need to draw something?  There's an app for that.  Need to make a document?  There's an app for that.  Need a game for an addictive diversion?  There's an app for that (but stay away from Candy Crush, seriously).

I have to constantly remind myself that not everyone in the world embraces technology like I do.  Twice in the past week I have observed folks that use technology in slightly well, inefficient ways.  I'm not criticizing anyone here, but you find yourselves saying "How come you aren't using the Doohickey App?"  or "You'd be able to communicate better if you used X or Y app."  But, I've had others in higher echelons of technobabble say the same sort of unintentional condescending things toward me too...so I get it.

One of the most frustrating feelings is creating or doing something to help, only to see it be ignored or unapprecciated.  You've been there.  You've taken time out of your busy schedule to stop by and help someone with something at their house, only to never get a thank-you.  You've given a gift that you've put a lot of thought into to a friend, and you see it sitting on a shelf unused, discarded or regifted.  It hurts, doesn't it?  On the app illustration again, I imagine that a developer somewhere creates an app:  they put in blood, sweat and tears knowing that somewhere, someone has a need that program will help.  How disappointing it must be when no one downloads, installs, or uses what they worked so hard to create, all the while knowing that they could have made a difference.

I think God's Word, a.k.a. "The Bible" or "The Good Book" (It's actually a GREAT book) is something like that in our lives.  God gave us this special gift, an "app store," if you will, of tools that can help us with a myriad of life's problems.  Discouraged?  There's a scripture for that.  Feeling hopeless?  There's a promise for that.  Feeling angry?  There's encouragement for that.  Fearful? There's protection for that.  Do you have a song on your heart?  There's a psalm for that.

You may not consider yourself the greatest theologian the world has ever seen.  You may be a Bible "noob." (a.k.a. newbie, novice, beginner) and are not quite at a place where you're using your Bible to its fullest potentional.  Hey, that's okay.  We all start somewhere.  But, the tools are there.  If you take time to familiarize yourself with the great resource of the Scriptures, you'll find that "app" perfect for you.

And, as an addendum, do make a point to acknowledge when someone takes the time to do something for you to help you. Even if it's not "your way" of doing things...always think about what effort went behind whatever was given or done, and see it in a different light.  It's better to be gracious over an imperfect gift than to break a relationship because of your indifference.

Litany for Evening Communion

Litany for Evening Communion

by Chris Bridges

Leader:  Tonight, we come before you guilty, stained with the scars from our sin.

People:  Lord, we confess our sins to You.

Leader:  Tonight, we come before you, our relationship broken, injured from the consequences of our sinful actions and thoughts.

People:  Lord, we ask for Your forgiveness

Leader:  Tonight, we thank you Lord for the offering of Your Son which has provided atonement.

People:  Lord, we praise you for this sacrifice.

Leader:  Tonight, we come to you, as you have commanded, to acknowledge what You have done for us.

People:  Lord, we remember Your sacrifice and Your substitution.

Leader:  Tonight we remember Your shed blood and broken body.

People:  Lord, for we know without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness from sin.  

Leader: Tonight we take and eat, as You demonstrated for us, as an offering of praise.  
People:  Lord, we honor You in this act, and we honor You with our lives.  

Leader:  Amen.  

The Lost Art of Dependability

I was recently asked to write an article for "The Mooresville Weekly," one of our community newspapers.  With their permission, I am reprinting it here on this blog as well.

Imagine for a moment that you just fell into a crisis. It doesn't matter what type: financial, personal, or medical. Now picture in your mind the one person you would call first. Maybe it's a family member.  Maybe it's a good friend.  Maybe it's a Pastor.  Whoever that person is, your mind no doubt went to them because they possess a quality or connection to you that makes them invaluable. More than likely, topping the list of characteristics that caused you to choose them is their dependability.

Being dependable is a valuable character trait, and one that the Bible says God values, both in our relationship to Him and to each other. Sadly, in our churches, community, and culture today, there is an epidemic of undependability.  It's not uncommon for me to hear a "yes" from someone when I ask them to help me, only to find that their actions that follow are a very clear and decisive "no" instead. 

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 21:28-31 about two sons.  One son says "no" to a task, but later thinks better of it and does it anyway.  The second son says "yes" but never does what is asked of him. Jesus asks his audience which of the two was the most dependable, to which his audience obviously replied "the first son."  Now, truth be told, neither of the sons in the story were perfect examples of reliability.  The one that got the job done still led their father to believe that they could not be counted on.  However, in the end, whether it was guilt, conviction, or a sudden onset of ethics, the task the father asked for was fulfilled.  In James 5:12, James also reminds us about making promises bigger than we can keep, which set us up for failure (swearing oaths), saying we should simply let our "yes be yes" and our "no be no".   Consistent statements of what we will do, with actions to match, makes us a person others can call "dependable." 

The flip side of this situation is that none of us are perfect, not one.  Ecclesiastes 7:20 reminds us of this hard truth.  The same grace that God gives us when we fall should always be offered to others when they let us down.  Still, as with any sin, the promise of God’s forgiveness and the Christian “duty” to forgive is not a free pass for us, or anyone else, to not strive to be the most dependable, reliable, and faithful people we can be.

So finally, now imagine you are on the other end of the conversation where a friend is in crisis or need.  You were the one that got the call this time.  Before you make that promise of help, will your words say what your actions will follow-through on?  Let's all work towards, as God intended, for us to reclaim the lost art of dependability.

Pattern People

One of the things about longer ministry tenures is that you can sense and see patterns before they even happen.  This is more prominant when dealing with specific people, but you can also see it in the macrocosm of the congregation at large too.

In dealing with individuals though, there is a hard reality that no matter how many times you correct, positively encourage, or admonish some individuals towards change, some people remain unchangeable, or will go in an almost memorizable repetitive cycle of disobedience and obedience. And who is chief amongst them?  Me, of course.  I doun't doubt for a second that my heavenly Father sees me in that same light too.  "Here he goes again.  He's going to withdraw a bit until 'x' happens and then he's going to have a mini-epiphany and move forward."  That's an over-simplification, of course, but I think you get my point.

As a big social media fan, I see this pattern full-force amongst the pages of facebook and twitter.  I see posts of angry rants, followed by contrition and resolve to change, followed by spiritual highs (accentuated by a million inspirational memes added for good measure), then failure or crisis, then rant, cry of desperation......and the cycle begins again.  Sound like someone you know?  Sound like perhaps yourself?  In some ways we have seen this pattern in the life of the nation of Israel in the Bible too.  It's nothing new.  But, it's still a problem.

I do, get weary quite often as of late about these patterns in other people, and I'm trying not to lose heart, and to keep perspective that we all are "pattern" people. God's grace is there for those bad cycles in these patterns for us.  I want to be known as a pattern person, but I want my pattern to be one filled with qualifications such as 'dependability, loyalty, steadfastness, and Christ-likeness.' Breaking a negative pattern can be tough.  A new routine and set of behaviors can be a scary thing to confront.  Let's pray for eachother as we set out to do just that.

Every. Hidden. Thing.

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV)

Secrets.  Motives.  True Feelings.  Buried deep down within the heart of who we are is, well, "who we really are."  For the redeemed Christian, that place deep down within should be a clean spotless place.  But truthfully, we know that on this side of eternity, that inner room needs sweeping up now and then.  Well, who am I kidding?  That inner room needs a remodel in the case of most of us!  

I came to the conclusion working today through Ecclesiastes, which in the last decade of my life has grown to be probably one of my favorite sections of scripture.  It speaks well to the realization of aging, of what's truly important in life, the frustrations of the mundane day-to-day life and the fruitless pursuits in which we waste our time.  

The final passages hit home, because in summary it tells us what we know in our hearts is the common-sense game plan that should be in motion for all of our lives.  Here's the Chris Bridges paraphrase: "I've said all there needs to be said.  Do what you know you're supposed to do for God.  He knows your heart and will judge you for it."  In another study I'm going through at church on Samson, the author, Chip Henderson, spends much time on discussing how much Samson kept hidden.  Most of what he kept hidden came back to haunt him later.  Skeletons in the closet rarely stay there.  Someone we let into our lives at some point, you know, that supposedly trusted friend, that person we're trying to make a good impression on, etc. will gain access to our heart and start walking around opening doors.  The results can be character-shattering.  Don't take that risk.  Pull the junk out of your mind's closets and deal with them (maybe have a yard sale? - okay, not really).  

Because one day, like this passage says.  God will come knocking.  He's got a universal key, so He lets Himself in.  (I'm over-generalizing here, of course, but stay with me).  He doesn't just walk the halls.  He looks in that closet.  He lifts up the rug.  He pulls down the attic stairs and climbs up.  The crawl space.  The hollowed out book.  The search history on your computer.  The sock drawer.  It's all laid bare and everything is exposed.  I don't believe that God has a clipboard in His hand waiting to issue a citation.  Instead, with that loving, diciplining look of disappointed Father, he'll glance back at us, like Jesus did when Peter denied Him, and we know he knows....EVERY HIDDEN THING.

And to make a further point of clarification, I don't think this is just an end-times judgement sort of thing in this passage.  There will be judgement then, of course.  I think this refers to "pop quiz" moments of inspection as well too.  You know, the times the teacher handed you that quiz you were unprepared for?  So, let's be ready.  Let's start the clean-up or the remodel.  Inspection could come at any time. 

Embrace vs. Escape

I'm reading through Thomas Wolfe's second novel "Of Time and the River."  Like the first book, it's not an easy read, but it's nice to see Wolfe's progression as a writer and the differences in his style as he matured.  Reading his "Look Homeward Angel" was a bucket list goal of mine, and I'm proud to say I got through it over many months.  

In this second book, Wolfe's semi-autobiographical character Eugene Gant enters Harvard University. In describing the students in one of his playwriting class, he makes an interesting statement:

"The impulse of the people in the class was not to embrace life and devour it, but rather to escape from it."

This thought echoed a Biblical passage I had read earlier this morning, in Ecclessiates Chapter 11. The whole chapter is a fantastic read, but I especially like the dichotomy in vs. 8 

 "However many years anyone may live,  let them enjoy them all. But let them remember the times of darkness, for there will be many.  Everything to come is meaningless" (NIV)

Wolfe's implication was that writing, to others around him, was escapism.  To him, it was to flesh out all of the emotions that came with life, good and bad, dark and light, and fully paint out the spectrum of the human experience.  In some ways, I see the same thought in the Bible passage too.  A commentator I read earlier (Holman Old Testament Commentary) mentioned that the teacher in Ecclessiastes was reminding his students that life in itself has good and bad.  We should enjoy the good, but also learn the lessons that the dark times teach us, not losing sight of the fact that death is an inevitable conlusion for all of us, save if Jesus returns first.  It's so hard some days to really enjoy life and the small happy moments of living in the now; to not seek "escapism" by whatever vice that tempts you, which in itself invites more dark times.  But my friends, we must.  Neither ignore or over-emphasize the dark times in your life.  They are part of the journey.  They are real.  They are not fun.  But in the grand scheme of things, in God's plan, there is a purpose for these things under heaven, which Ecclessiastes Chapter 3 (the source of the famous Byrds song) reminds us of:

Ridgecrest Music Week 2015 Day Four

Whew.  I'm bushed.  It's been a pretty good day, though, with another good round of classes and worship times.  

I started off the day with a class from Liberty professor John Kinchen, who spoke on humility in worship leadership.  He was one of the most engaging speakers of the week - you could tell he's a prof!  He had some great sound byte moments with statements such as "There is only one "I" In Worship - I AM!"  And "The church is a perfect institution, until you add people."  He used the example of Christ to parallel the humility we should have as worship leaders. 

Next was another class with Slater Murphy on Keys to Worship Leading excellence.  He gave a very practical list of game-changing principles in areas of personal and church life for ministers.  Most were just refreshers and reminders for me, but there were a few principles that I hadn't really spent much thought on that we're very helpful.

A theme I've that kept coming up in several classes or so was the issue of verbal transitions between songs and how best to handle these segue times.  Slater's class danced into this area, but our worship leader for the week, Jeremy Busler had a whole hour on the subject.  This is an area I had not spent much though on previously.  Much of the discussion dealt with limiting your spoken transitions to just a few very thought-out and very intentional words.  There were some very good thoughts about flow and transition in general too in Jeremy's class.  

A week ending tradition is Mike Harland's Q & A, where we get a chance to ask him anything on our hearts.  Since it was burning a hole inside of me wanting more information, I asked him about the reasonings behind moving the week to Gatlinburg and away from Ridgecrest.  I appreciated his honest response.  He shared that much discussion about canceling or moving the week had been going on for many years, and that attendance for the week was down overall, and did not seem to be attracting the new generations of worship leaders like they had hoped.  Originally the idea was to move the week to Nashville, but when the LifeWay building sold, that changed things.  At that point, they tried to secure Ridgecrest again, but their summer schedule had already been filled up.  So, since the Music on the Mountain event in Gatlinburg had shown signs of growing over the last few years, they have decided to give Gatlinburg a try.  Coming back to Ridgecrest is not out of the question, but who knows when that will be or what it will look like.  Still, my soul is sad because of this decision. For me, the event and the place are inseparable, and the long history of this camp inspiring and refueling generations of church musicians, myself one of them, ending because of this experiment into a new locale and format just still does't make sense in my brain.  Will I give it a try? I'm honestly not sure.  It's further away and likely will be more expense out of pocket for my family.  As it takes shape, I'll pray about it and evaluate the options. I've thought about trying Oasis or Choral Festival instead, or maybe just taking a year off completely.  

In worship today, Jay dealt with the issue of unity.  One neat thing was that they involved the children's choir, of which Ginny was a part in the worship songs on stage.  They also were a part of the evening feature with Tommy Walker tonight. Sidebar: You know, I love Tommy Walker, he's a great worship leader, but it's his third time being here in the last 5 years or so.  He never disappoints, but it almost smells a bit of croney-ism.  End sidebar.  :)  I was thrilled that Ginny got a chance to perform on the Ridgecrest stage, though, meaning that now everyone in my family has done that in some way.  That's a blessing.   Can you find Ginny below?

After the concert tonight, we walked over and explored the amphitheater that they are restoring.  Mike Harland had told us that years ago there was a rock amphitheater, which they built the Crystal Springs conference center right in front of obscuring it from view.  The amphitheater fell into neglect and the forest reclaimed it.  Well in the last year, Crystal Springs was raized, and Ridgecrest apparantly decided to resurrect this old amphitheater.  I had no idea this was even there. 

Sharon also was able to find the lake up on the mountain, which also I had never seen.  Tomorrow morning we leave and head home.  I hope that I can soon find my way back here, and more ideally, hope that LifeWay will realize that this is the true home for Music Week.  

Ridgecrest Music Week 2015 Day Three

Today has turned out to be a very encouraging day.  Although the thought of Music Week being somewhere other than Ridgecrest isn't leaving my mind anytime soon, I've had a lot of very good classes today, some time on the mountain with just me and God, and some great conversations with others in ministry.

I started the day with a class highlighting the Growing in Grace Curriculum from Terry Taylor and Paula Farrar.  It was great. Very reminiscent of the old CMS materials - very music education based.  I really liked this curriculum and think the preschool track may would be a good fit for us.   I may even look at it for our older kids too. I had bought a little sampler pack from the bookstore and saw Terry and Paula in the cafeteria later and asked them a question.  They are so nice and have a ministerial heart about what they do.  They told me to go and get the companion CD for free from their room.  

My second class of the day was with Slater Murphy called "Working from the Overflow." It ended up being more an hour commercial for planning center online, but that's okay, as I had wanted to learn about that anyway, although I'm not sure I'm sold on the value of a $50 per month music administrative software suite yet.  People rave about it, but my system for worship planning seems to work for me, and the size church for which I'm at I don't think warrants that sort of software at this point.  

Worship was great again today too.  Jay dealt with the church's responsibility to "tell the story" and how we shouldn't assume folks already know it.  Ginny has been old enough to be in worship with us this week, and part of the emphasis of the week has been generations worshipping together, and they actually changed the schedule so families could worship together this year.  Not sure she got a lot out of the sermon today, though:

The highlight of the day, and maybe the whole conference so far, strangely, was the preview of the 2016 VBS music. This has never been done before, but it was really great.  We got to meet and talk to the folks behind the VBS music (and many other things in LifeWay land) and listen to all of the main songs for VBS Submerged!  Especially touching was getting to hear the God moments and sentimental stories behind the writing of some of the songs.  We were "instructed" not to share any details, so I won't on this public blog, but nevertheless this was a special treat.

I had a free block of time in the afternoon, which I spent in the prayer garden.  Despite the painful reality that it was uncertain when I would ever get to come back here, I had some nice moments with God,  I spent some time in Psalm 80, where Asaph's song is pleading to God to restore Israel.  He cited God's care for the nation in the past and lamented its current state of oppression from other nations.  I can't help but to think of my nation with this prayer in mind as well.  The Lord reminded me through this passage and a few others (like Proverbs 3) that the Lord disciplines those He loves.  I think this does not apply only to the individual, but to groups, churches, and nations.  Sometimes the righteous are collateral damage in the disciplining, but that does not excuse us from seeking to be righteous and reminding others about the statutes of God.  

Oh, and this was my friend that stayed with me on the prayer bench that I was at :

The evening feature tonight was a screening of the new movie "War Room", but Sharon and I are going to meet up with Ginny in a bit and hang out together in the Nibble Nook instead tonight.  We also got to see some good pictures of Nathan from CentriKid that were shared on Facebook,  so we were glad to know he's doing well.  

Ridgecrest Music Week 2015 Day Two

First of all, I faced the day not on all cylinders today.  For some still yet to be determined reason, I only got about two hours of sleep last night. Not sure if it was because I had caffeine to close to bed, the bed itself was uncomfortable, it was hot in the room, or the excessive "cardio" I've been doing walking up and down the hills around here.  Could be a combination of all of it.  

Still it was an informative and educational day.  I begin the day with an early class with Amanda Singer, who was overviewing the upcoming semesters of Children's Worship Series.  I really like how it is layed out, but have always felt since they introduced it last year, that it's a bit too contemporary of a model for our kiddos. It's also divided into a younger and older series, but with me having grades 1-6 combined, I would have to pick either or.  Apparantly they are starting a more traditional series back called Growing in Grace, which is a reboot of sorts of the older Children's music series with an emphasis on music education and worship. Sharon saw a teaser of that material today, and she was impressed.  I had previously thought it was just for preschool, but it will span through all of the elementary grades.  

Two good reading sessions today.  The first from PraiseGathering gleaned a few good selections such as an upbeat Southern Gospel piece called "Fear Not", a Mary McDonald piece called "All Because of the Wonderful Cross" to name a few.  In the LifeWay session in the afternoon, I got to hear the new Let's Sing Cantata "Come and Behold Him" which is very good, and a contemporary cantata called "That's Where the Story Began" that has some promise.  There was also a Phil Barfoot pull out anthem called "He Still Saves" that I really liked, and that's saying something, because most of his things are not a good fit for us.  Mike Harland posted this picture of the reading session, and if you have a good eye, you'll see my lovely head way up on the first row.  

I had two more "philosophical classes" ;) in the afternoon, one being from our conference pastor Jay Strother and his worship leader Jeremy Busler on multigenerational worship.  Some very good thoughts on what I've held as a tenant of my philosophy for years - that worship services should be designed for multiple ages to worship together.  This was followed by a class with Jon Duncan on Christ-Centered worship. I remembered that I had Dr. Duncan in a class here several years ago, and much of the material was the same.  It took scriptures on worship (like the Isaiah 6 passage) and went a little deeper with them.  

I decided to skip tonight's concert with "This Hope" since I had heard them not too long ago, and my brain was full.  It's been a bit of a discouraging evening, as I'm hearing that this may be the last Music  Week at Ridgecrest.  They are looking to move the event to Gatlinburg next year.  Words cannot describe how sad this makes me feel.  I'm not ruling out going to it, but I can't see this event being nearly as meaningful for me not being on this precious campus.  But in many ways as of late, the Lord has been showing me that sometimes you just have to let your aspirations on how you would like to see things burn themselves down into a pile of ashes so they can be rebuilt in His design.  Perhaps from time to time I've idolized this place more than the Creator that had sanctified it.  If so, lesson learned.  I think we all need to take time to inventory what really matters, and I think I'm in one of those seasons.  

To the three or so of you all out there who actually may read this, please pray that I'll make these transitions according to His plans....and that I'll get more than two hours sleep tonight as well.  :)

Ridgecrest Music Week 2015 Day One

This year's Ridgecrest is a bit different in the fact that for the first time in several years, Nathan is not with us.  He chose instead to go with the church group to CentriKid, which ironically is happening at my alma-mater, Gardner-Webb.  So, it's just Ginny, Sharon, and myself this time around, which gives the siblings a nice break from each other, and a little less childcare "management" for us to worry about while here.

I have to laugh at myself as I type this, because this "ministry blog" has mainly become mainly a Ridgecrest journal, as that's about the only times that I have to really sit down and write, reflect, and so forth.  It really reminds me that I SO miss writing. 

Every Ridgecrest event I am privileged to attend, I am usually a different state of mind when entering the campus.  Some years it's been jubilant expectation, sometimes it's been pure nostalgia, sometimes it's the depths of discouragement.  This year is different for me.  It's just simply exhaustion.  It's not that good things are not happening, it's not that I feel like I'm in the pit of despair looking upwards...it's just pure unadulterated exhaustion with the fear of more responsibilities being heaped upon me to which I may bend or break under.  But, there is a little spiritual déjà vu too, in that being in this place reminds me that the one that has called me will equip me to get through this transitional time and the realization that the same patterns of behavior, the same traps, the same thorns, the same discouragers, always come, and always go, but the Lord's provision endures forever.  

Okay, now that I've suffered you all through that "cheery introduction" (which realistically only about three real people will actually read), I'll give you a quick update to this first day.  Arriving on campus, we were happy to be staying in Rhododendron again this year, but this time, we actually had a real window, unlike last year where we had a sliver of light peering out from a roof with a lovely view of AC units.  ;) Rhododendron is the most central place to stay on campus, in my opinion.  For the first time ever, our window faces the mountain and the giant cross perched upon it, which is what most people consider the symbol of Ridgecrest.   Below is our ACTUAL view.  Pretty cool, huh?

Tonight's feature was Geron Davis and Kindred Souls. Geron Davis is the composer or "Holy Ground" and "Precious Lamb of Glory."  I have a confession to make.  I had always thought, or had been incorrectly told, that Geron Davis was, -ahem- African American, because of his very soulful style.  So, imagine my surprise when a Caucasian man walked on stage.  All these years and I had never see a picture of the guy!  It's humorous how we all make assumptions like that from time to time.  It was a very great start to the week.  He did sing Holy Ground, which was a treat for everyone, and told the story behind writing it when he was 18 years old.  When I was 18, the only thing I wrote was letters to my girlfriend and term papers.  

Uncharacteristic for us, we went to the Nibble Nook on the first night, because we had free coupons as a bonus for our registration this year.  That's when the storm hit.  Fortunately we didn't get soaked, but nevertheless we had the whole Nibble Nook to ourselves just about.  

Looking forward to a full day of classes tomorrow.  But, looking more forward to some moments of rest (if I can).  It's always a battle between wanting to soak in as much as I can, and making myself pause and refresh.  

Wish I had the energy of this seven year old we've brought with us...

I, Too, Have Denied Him

I, Too, Have Denied Him

by Chris Bridges

I, too, have denied Him, when I have said that unkind and careless thought

I, too, have denied Him, though with blood, my soul He bought

I, too, have denied Him, when I worshipped my idea of what’s right

I, too, have denied Him, when instead of peace, I turned toward the fight

I, too, have denied Him, when I forsook my dear Savior, Redeemer, and Friend.  

I, too, have denied Him, when with a loved one, that fence I did not mend.

I, too, have denied Him, when giving Him less than my all.  

I, too, have denied Him, with sins that led to my fall.

I, too, have denied Him, when faced with great fear.

I, too, have denied Him, knowing despite this, my Savior was near.  

I, too, have denied Him, and then turned toward His face

I, too, have denied Him, ashamed, hid in disgrace.

I, too, have denied Him, and have heard a cock crow.

Yet, My sins, though as scarlet,

Have been made white as snow.  

Ridgecrest Music Week 2014 Day Four

I began the day with another class from David Manner on "Guardrails for Long-Tenured Worship Ministry".  What a great class! The advice given was so practical, I really think it can apply to anyone in ministry positions in general.  So, I thought I would paraphrase his points below here:

1. Place more focus on the person than on the project 

2. Look out for number 2. (place others first)

3. Don't compare your place of ministry.  Take what you have and make something wonderful.

4. Be a lifelong learner

5. Realize failure is an option, occasionally. Take risks.  Own up to your failure.

6. Remember you are not on your own.  Surround yourself with a great cloud of witnesses. Get a team.  

7.  Love much. Don't put church before family, but don't use family as an excuse to shirk responsibility

8. Make the mortgage payment before you remodel the kitchen. (Worst first).  Work hard.

9.  Move tables. Don't disappear when the hard, dirty, and unflattering jobs need to be done.

10. Lighten up.  Give yourself a break every now and then. 

Good stuff, right?  I though so.  I think I'm doing pretty well on this checklist, but there are a couple that I struggle with a bit.  

My next class was on Video Basics from Zach Cochran of innovative Media and dealt with understanding the vocabulary of video language - VGA, XVGA, 4K, etc...  It was a refresher for the most part, but I was able to ask some questions about some situations with our current TV ministry issues that could possible steer us in a new direction there as far as equipment.  

Worship today with Michael Catt was great again.  I have to confess that I had reached my point of exhaustion in the week by this time today and was getting quite sleepy.  I feared I wouldn't make it, but once again, the content was quite engaging and ended with a very nice time of prayer.  The emphasis was on the power of a praying church.  We explored the meaning of the word "fervent," which means fully stretched (as in a muscle), in the context of prayer.

After lunch, I had a couple of class blocks where I had no class options I was interested in.  Therefore, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Prayer Garden.  I spent a good amount of time there in Hosea 4, where God outlines His anger against the people of Israel because of their sin.  But he doesn't stop there, as he also makes it clear that his anger burns towards the prophets and priests as well.  We can gather from this a reminder that our positions as ministers are also held accountable for their actions or inactions in the decline of spirituality in a culture.  Convicting stuff.  Verse 13 also says: "They sacrifice on the mountaintops, and they burn offerings on the hills, and under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters act promiscuously and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. (Hosea 4:13 HCSB)". I interpret this as how "comfortable" the people have become in worshipping in the shade, so to speak, but then leaving and returning to their lives of sin right after.  Boy, that sounds familiar, doesn't it?

This afternoon's LifeWay reading session was pretty good.  The new Dennis Allen "Let's Sing" Christmas Cantata called "He is Here" was once again a winner, and will be a frontrunner choice for my Christmas Cantata this year.   There was also a Thanksgiving mini-musical called "We Give Thanks" that was also quite good.  A Christmas standalone anthem that I liked was "The Birthday of The King" arranged by Mauldin, which was quite nice.  

The feature concert tonight began with a performance by the conference youth and children's choir.  The youth performance was plagued by sound problems early, but they finished strong.  The children (wiith my Nathan being among them) performed selections from the new CWS series of curriculum.  It was a very upbeat and lively set of songs, almost dance club-like at parts.  High energy!  I'm still not sure I'm 100% on board with the new bent.  I did enjoy the music and could see my kids choir doing it, though.  Before the last half of the program with Shelley Johnson, we hear a surprise solo performance by one of the former members of the Imperials, and it was fantastic.  Shelly's performance was quite good, but sometimes the track sort of overwhelmed her.  The songs were really nice, though, especially her new spin on the classic hymn "The Love of God." It surprised me they had her back so soon after just having her a few years ago, but I was still blessed.  

The evening concluded with ice cream at the Nibble Nook. :) 🍦

Ridgecrest Music Week 2014 Day Three

This was a very good day.  My only regret is I would have loved to have had about two more hours in it.   

I started off the morning with a class with an intriguing title "Is the Lords Supper a Waste of Service time?" with David Manner (not to be confused with David Banner - you wouldn't like him when he's angry.). It dealt with how The Lord Supper has become ritual for many churches and has lost its meaning.  I was really hoping to gain some practical ideas about how to help folks to truly see the significance of what this ordinance represents, and I did gain a few insights, but all-in-all this class dealt with more general and philosophical ideas about the Lords Supper.  Good reminders and some food for thought, though.

Worship this morning continued the hard-hitting between the eyes preaching from Michael Catt. Today's message dealt with how to abide in God, and what that truly means.  It also dealt with the work of the Holy Spirit on the church today, and how we try to "do church" without Him.  Here are some of my favorite quotes from the message today (paraphrased):

"The Holy Spirit could lead the SBC for ten years, and we wouldn't know it because were so programmed up."

"The last time God put together a committee, it was to discover if the Israelites should go into the promised land.  The result was that they wondered In the wilderness for forty years and did funerals"

"Churches spend too much money on things that just entertain their Christian friends"  (Referring to concerts and pageants - ouch)

"A lost person can easily detect when you are just doing religion and if the Spirit is not present"

"A church never rises above the level of her leadership. Individuals may rise above it, but the church as a whole won't."

My next class was led by Mark Willard, who is Michael Catt's worship leader at Sherwood.  It dealt with what happens when the Holy Spirit changes direction mid-service and you need to deviate from "the plan."  He talked about the importance for good communication between Pastor, Worship Pastor, and musicians ahead of time to be prepared to transition easier.  

My last class of the day was with Kenny Lamm again, and dealt with one of my favorite areas of interest - Social Media.  Loved this class. Learned a few tips I had not though about and was reminded about a few tools that I haven't explored in a while.  I liked especially how he reiterated about how important a tool Facebook really is in promoting your church and building relationships with people, something I've been preaching at folks for a while now.  

As has become the norm the last few years, LifeWay did not have a major structured schedule for Wednesday evening, except for an optional look at a new Christian movie that was coming out soon.  We decided to head towards Asheville and met up with a dear college friend of mine, Julianne Kuykendall, and had a good time hanging out, looking at pictures, and reminiscing. It was super fun.

 

Last full day tomorrow!  

Ridgecrest Music Week 2014 Day Two

Wow, what an exhausting day!

I have been impressed with the class selections this year, there have been numerous times already that I've seen I'm going to have several hard choices as to which classes to choose, as there are very few repeated classes.  

My first class of the morning was a class on youth choirs and working with students.  It explored the whys of having a youth choir and reminded us of a lot of the things to look out for when starting working with student choirs.  

Secondly, I attended a very good reading session from Praise Gathering this morning.  Like with Mike speck last night, I was pleasantly surprised at the offerings from there, as I normally don't have much I can take from them.  Their arrangements tend to be too big and grandiose for the small and medium choirs I've been a part of leading.  I found a very good arrangement by Rouse of "He Will Carry You," A brand new Gaither piece called "In Good Hands," and a nice original Rouse piece called "Hope Remains."  There were two or three other keepers as well.  

After this, I had a class with Amanda Singer, one of the architects behind the reboot of the "Children's Worship Series", formerly the Children's Music Series.  

Sidebar time:  One of the things that was really overemphasized in this session was how the new series really focused on worship and equipping children to be active participants in worship.  I'm all for that.  There was almost an unspoken slam of the old curriculum, though, implying it wasn't "worship" focused.  If I was one of the writers of the old stuff, man, that would really insult me.  In the end, I think any of the past CMS curriculum is what the teachers make out of it.  I can't see how musicals and the older "performance based curriculum" as it was referred to is any less "worshipful" that another song for our kids.  Maybe I'll understand a little better if I swim in the new curriculum a bit in the days ahead and I'll be more sympathetic.  I'm team LifeWay all the way, but I have a small concern that there is a bit of worshipping "worship" and not worshipping God, and teaching kids how to do the same.  Does that make sense?  I still love you LifeWay Music, uh I mean Worship Week.  ;).  Sidebar over.

Back to Amanda Singer's class.  She was one smart cookie, and really had a great philosophy on children's ministry.  She was a great speaker and Sharon and I both enjoyed this class.  Amanda is also serving as the children's choir camp director for the week, so Nathan is experiencing her too.  

Next up was Kenny Lamm's class on Worship Tools for churches with limited resources.  Being somewhat in that category, I thought it was a class I shouldn't miss.  Now since Kenny is a friend, I'm a bit partial, but I can say the class was very helpful.  In addition to hearing about familiar tools such as LifeWay Worship and Band in a Box, I was introduced to some even better featured apps and software I had never heard of, such as ISingWorship, an app that has some amazing tools for virtual band, such as on the fly changes to the ordering of verses and choruses, etc.  Frankly that blew my mind.  

Worship today was a great experience.  Michael Catt, the conference pastor and Pastor for Sherwood Church, the church that brought us the movies Fireproof, Flywheel, Facing the Giants, et.al.  brought a great message on how churches today are grieving the Holy Spirit by specific actions.  His first point was that churches grieve the Holy Spirit by running itself like a business.  That hit home a bit.  Some other sound bytes (paraphrased) are that we "treat God's Word like junk mail," and condemned legalists by saying they often "sleep with The Constitution and Bylaws under their pillow."  He pulled no punches, like when referring to the difficult people who constantly put tradition and ritual ahead of God's Word even when scripture clearly countered their argument by saying that we shouldn't "waste time arguing with idiots, just politely thank them and ignore them."  A bit harsh, but he's got a point.  He also hit home when he said prayer should not be a transition point for flow, but always should be treated as an intimate encounter with God.  Good stuff.  

Shannon Wexelberg was the guest artist this evening.  She is a super talented song writer, vocalist, and pianist.  I've been connected with her for years through a song she wrote for the musical "A Christmas Prayer,, but it was nice to finally hear her in person.  Very touching and intimate time of music making.  

On a personal note, we have had some disappointments with the child care and day camp programs this year.  Once today we were told to hike to the top of the hill to pick up Nathan only to find he was not there but at another location.  Sharon went to drop off Ginny this morning and the teachers said they couldn't receive kids until 15 minutes after Sharon's class started, which was not what the program had said, plus their supervisor was nowhere to be found.  Nathan also had a bad experience this evening with his teachers this evening too.  Having kids at two different pickup locations at opposite ends of the highest part of the campus has been a cruel physical punishment for parents. We've thought about just taking Nathan with us to the adult classes at some point to save some of that walking.  This was Nathan tonight at the concert as proof: