Category Archives: journal of a new lead pastor

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Worship Leader vs. Worship Pastor

November 29, 2011 – 3:46 pm

Got into an interesting discussion this past week with a buddy about worship leaders and worship pastors. After we made the requisite metro jokes – we got serious for a moment. Here were some of thoughts….

A worship leader (wait for it….) leads music and song whereas a worship pastor leads people into experiences that collide them with God.

A leader plans and practices transitions from song to song whereas a pastor looks for holy interruptions that could send us deeper.

A leader will make sure his part of the service is done well while a pastor focuses on the WHOLE worship experience.

A leader will be great with the music, a pastor will experiment with different disciplines (silence, prayer, readings, communion, video, etc).

A leader will evaluate notes and tuning, a pastor will evaluate the impact and response.

A leader will understand response as someone walking down the aisle, a pastor will see response as life change once the service is over.

A leader wants to run a smooth practice, a pastor wants to develop other worshippers.

What would you add?

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journal of a new lead pastor leadership ramblings

Exposed and Protected

September 20, 2011 – 10:44 am

I need to tell this story about my day yesterday. This is the time of year where we enter budget mode at the church. We’ve been dreaming and seeking God’s face as a staff and leaders as to what He has for us in 2012. We’ve prayed through those and are continuing to pray through them, starting to put numbers to those dreams and then those numbers make up the budget.

But putting all of that together, keeping that juggling act of activity focused on Making disciples who love God, live connected, and serve all stretches me in areas that I didn’t even know I had. I love the dreaming and team building part. I love the putting steps in action to accomplish this. I love that more so than ever we have a more holistic approach to this process.

But when it comes to numbers and budgets, I just feel overwhelmed. As a leader, there is this huge temptation to be ‘good at everything’ that comes to your desk. Bible question? I gotcha. Counseling? Marriage? Kids? Sports? Politics? Budgets? As these questions and opportunities come flying at you, there is this evil voice gently whispering – “go ahead, fake it. You can be the expert.” And most leaders know enough about any subject to sound intelligent about for about 5 minutes. After that, the gig is up.

So I’ve learned to just punt that first 5 minutes. There is no sense in pretending, you’re going to get exposed sooner or later. Last night I was asked by a dear friend, ‘how are you really doing.’ I leveled with him – “This is the worst time of the year for me. I feel completely exposed as a leader and inadequate in this area of budgets. I can follow one, I can keep an organization under one. But creating and organizing?”

He just looked at me and said the exact words I needed to hear. “Grant…we’ve got people for that, right?” It wasn’t a question. He pushed me a bit more – “Just close your eyes, trust God and keep teaching the word.” Later that night he said something else that jolted me – “We need to do anything we can to keep bringing people to Jesus Christ. That’s the focus. Nothing else matters.”

Exposed and protected. That’s what I felt last night. What a great place to be as leaders in the church. This is the huge benefit of team leadership, in community with authenticity and humility. I’m off the ledge this morning.

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Football Thoughts, Week of September 11

September 13, 2011 – 5:14 pm

Alabama
The defense is every bit as good as advertised. The offense and special teams needs some work. Their next test will be Arkansas in a couple of weeks. The pundits are saying that the Tide is rolling towards another national championship. I’m thinking that may be premature. Every one in the stadium knows that #3 is getting the ball and that just isn’t a great recipe for a season long run to the Championship. AJ McCarron will have to develop as well as a wideout other than Maze.

Auburn
As Coop and I were watching the game wind down, I told Cooper that the right call would be to throw now with 10 seconds left that way MSU has two plays. MSU runs and Auburn’s safety makes one heck of a play. I’m not sure if MSU just choked away a win or if Auburn is that resilient. Either way, Auburn is 2-0 and while they aren’t as talented or dominant as they were last year – they still play hard, still play the WHOLE game.

Georgia & South Carolina
Uga now has a different meaning. Watching Georgia self-destruct in that game was painful even for me. Murray still makes those one or two bone-head plays a game that just makes you go – “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??” Which should totally sound familiar for South Carolina fans as they have watched Garcia…dare I use the phrase ‘grow up?’ Shame for Mark Richt – who will probably lose his job after this season.

NFL

The Broncos…here’s the deal. I’m not anti-Orton. It’s just that we’ve seen this ineptness the last 4 years. Dink, dink, short run, turnover, field goals instead of touchdowns, penalties, and unable to finish games. It is clear that Orton is an average quarterback who at times plays awful but generally speaking will play to the level of talent around him. He isn’t going to put the team on his shoulders and take them to the next level.

What we don’t know is what we’ve got in Quinn or Tebow. And since it is apparent that the Broncos are going to be in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes, wouldn’t it be great to figure out what you’ve got with Tebow or Quinn? Maybe they do know what they’ve got and it’s so bad they are just trying to get as much as they can in trade value from the other teams. The 23-20 score is so deceptive. The game really wasn’t that close and it was a slow, ugly game. Penalty Bowl.

The cool thing? The Orange Jerseys!!! Love that look!

The only team that I thought looked worse than the Broncs this past weekend was the Chiefs. And unless there is a major attitude change in KC, they could be the worse team in the NFL. They didn’t look ready to play and completely out-coached on Sunday. Could be a long season for the Chefs.

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Idea Overload

March 23, 2011 – 8:07 pm

Went to Church 3.0 Conference today at Westside Family Church in KC with Mari and Gary. Neil Cole was the presenter. There was much I resonated with, much that confirmed the direction we are going at Western Hills. Much that helped me put words to thoughts.

I’ll be posting about some of those in the future. I’ve got pages of notes. But there were a couple of thoughts that I just didn’t get and didn’t see how in the world they were even relevant or could possibly work.

One of the head-scratching parts for me was watching Neil Cole basically deconstruct and critique the ‘centralized’ church versus the decentralized church. It was way to obvious what Cole’s bias was – decentralization – but what was frustrating for me is that I felt like I was getting more propaganda than substance at that point. It was one of those moments that I wanted to quote Shakespeare – “I think he doth protest to much.”

I’ve heard that sermon before – house churches, decentralized churches that are smaller with no overhead costs, with no paid staff are better for the advancement of the Kingdom than mega-churches or any organized church with brick and mortar. They spend their time and money on real Kingdom work.

It’s a great theory. And I’m sure there are examples of exactly that happening. I just don’t think the ratio of how many house churches that REALLY function that way is all that different from ‘big’ churches that do.

Most of the house churches I know of started because they didn’t like any of the larger churches or didn’t want the hassle of the Sunday morning experience. Or they were of the “anti-establishment” church. The idea of impacting their community for Jesus I think I can safely say was one of the last things on their minds.

And guess what? Big churches have the same stat line – a lot are started by groups of people who aren’t happy with their current church (music, preacher, color of carpet) and the idea of impacting their community for Jesus is the last thing on their minds.

I don’t really think the size of a church OR where that church meets is the ultimate determination of how they define themselves or understand their mission. There are inward-focused house churches as well as “centralized” churches. There are outward, Kingdom focused house-churches as well as centralized churches.

So what is the difference maker? I think it’s all a matter of the focus of its leadership.

At Western Hills, we are trying to figure out what it means to BE the church where we live – all week long. What does LOVE, LIVE, and SERVE look like on my ball teams, in my office, with my family, in my neighborhood? What does being the CHURCH, being the presence of Jesus looks like wherever I go? What does that concept of church do to my life choices now? How I spend my time and money?

We are not there yet by any stretch of the imagination but I have a hard time believing that a decentralized house-church would have been given access to the places we’ve been given access to serve this year. And I know that there are some places that we are never going to penetrate under the banner of Western Hills but some of our life groups will get to through them being Church.

We’re not a shining example of what COULD be. At least not yet but I think we are asking the right questions, on the right road, focusing on making disciples on a micro level that love, live, and serve where ever they go.

I understand that most organized churches don’t ask these kinds of questions. Most say something to the effect “Come here because we have the buffet of programs and services to make your life better.” I get the frustration with that kind of philosophy and how it just further feeds the consumer beast we have in the States. Believe me…I get it.

But I know of house church leaders who function much the same way, the only difference is they are selling the anti-establishment, not necessarily Kingdom living. It’s just as wrong.

I left the afternoon session wondering if Neil really believed that the smaller, decentralized church was the only way the Kingdom could be advanced? I wondered if he really thought these centralized churches were a danger to the advancement of the Kingdom.

I’m not sure. He left that impression. I reserve the right to have heard him incorrectly…it was the afternoon session and I wasn’t exactly locked in with laser focus. I just wanted more from the afternoon session than what I got…because the morning session was outstanding in so many ways.

Time to end this post. Let say this as sort of a wrap-up – I think there is a place (and need) for both the decentralized and centralized. (I think they can even exist under the same roof but I’ll save that for another post.)

I was reminded today that there just isn’t one simple answer to how to spread Jesus’ story. It’s about connecting people with the real Jesus and that is a messy proposition at best. And that’s okay.

Some people are going to get connected to Him in a living room under the name “house church.” Some are going to get connected in a large auditorium. Some are going to get connected over lunch with a co-worker. And others still will meet Jesus when we start being Church where ever we go.

And I think He’s okay with all of that…

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journal of a new lead pastor leadership ramblings theological ramblings

What To Pray For…

September 22, 2010 – 3:05 pm

I asked her “How do you want me to pray?”

She smiled. “Pray for healing….but….” She paused to look out the window. “I’m not afraid to die. I’m going to see Jesus. I just don’t want to suffer. I don’t want that for my family.”

She turned back to look at me. She was smiling with eyes bright and clear. There wasn’t a hint of resentment or bitterness. There was no dread or self-pity. Just a prayer that sounded a lot like Paul’s prayer – “for me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

She didn’t sound like someone who’d been told that the tumor was cancerous and inoperable. She didn’t sound like someone who knew that her “homecoming” was near. And she then waited for me to pray.

I don’t want to pray for acceptance of this. I don’t want this to be the verdict. I can’t count how many meals we ate at her table or how many naps our kids took upstairs. How many football games in front of the fireplace? Or tears of laughter at her crazy stories? How many hours of sleep did we bypass for card games and movies?

She always had ice cream, she always had room for one more around the table. She modeled how to love others with the gift of hospitality. She had a basement full of playpens, high chairs, toddler toys, bouncy seats, sippee cups, small spoons, and bibs. She had that cool Fisher Price barn with the mooing cow barn doors and the hammer and big wooden nails bench. If you were a young family with small kids, she was a lifesaver. We could go over and not have to pack up the house to do it.

I don’t remember what I prayed. I didn’t make it very far before the tears started leaking in anyway. I feel so very inadequate in this moment. Small. Insignificant. As if I’m interrupting a private conversation. And this is as it should be because this moment is about her and Jesus.

There is a strength in her faith I do not yet have but hope to one day achieve. But for today…for now…I’m sad. And I’ll honor her prayer because I don’t know what else to pray for…

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journal of a new lead pastor lifewalking

Why Not Every Sunday?

April 5, 2010 – 9:47 am

Life Group last night offered up probably one of my favorite moments of the whole weekend.

My good friend, who is a new believer, offered up this gem – “The most powerful words of the service this morning were “He is risen” then hearing the everyone say “He is risen, indeed.” I’d never heard that before. I just stopped in that moment and was just completely blown away by the reality of that statement.”

“Why don’t we do that every Sunday?”

The entire Life Group just stopped. Out of the mouth of babes…. I have absolutely no good reason as to why we don’t do that every Sunday.

Here is this new follower of Jesus and what he is going to remember most about that service – what had the most impact on him – was not the songs, the stage set-up, the sermon but the simple declaration of why we worship every Sunday, not just Easter.

This is another reason why I believe every spiritual leader needs to be in a discipling relationship with a new believer. They have so much to teach us.

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journal of a new lead pastor random ramblings

Shaking the Monday Blues…

February 8, 2010 – 11:32 am

It’s snowing today and for the first time since we moved here….I miss Colorado. I miss stealing a day skiing with friends. I miss the first lift up, the squeaking of powder underneath my skis. I miss the way the sun hits the foothills in the morning and the last peak of orange before dinner.

For some reason, it’s hard to stay focused today and I find my thoughts continually drifting West. When I hear people complain about the snow here, I smile and nod. I understand that in can be a nuisance. It makes our cars dirty and it’s impossible to get the Christmas lights off the house. (I promise I’m trying…sort of.) It slows things down – you can’t drive as fast, stop as fast, get to where you are going as fast, or get ready to leave as fast because of the layers you have to dress in. But that’s another reason I love the snow. It slows me down.

And when I slow down, I remember things. Namely, I remember Camber wrestling with this feeling when we first moved here. I learned much from her watching her deal with moving. Last semester I had one of those moments that I’m convinced God orchestrated for my benefit. Cammy walks into the living room, plops down besides me looking down. I asked ‘You okay?”

She passionately told me that she loved her new school, her new friends, her new church, her new house and if only she could get new siblings to go with it, her life would be perfect. As it stood – it was not going to be perfect until they all moved out. I thought to myself – if we’re lucky they’ll all move out. “You think they might just feel the same way at times?”

She looked at me like I was from Mars. And I asked her at the risk of it blowing up in my face – so you don’t miss Colorado anymore?

“Oh no. There are days I do but there’s room for more than one favorite in your heart, isn’t there?”

I sat dumbfounded at the depth and wisdom of my quirky, funny, off-the-wall middle child. “Yes, Camber. You are absolutely right.”

So later today, I’ll be fine and I’ll see Camber and she’ll make me laugh.

But for a few moments this morning, I wish I could see Pike’s Peak.

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family ramblings journal of a new lead pastor spiritual formation theological ramblings weekly evos

Coaching My Kids And If That Really Is A Good Idea

January 21, 2010 – 12:16 pm

I see dads doing it and I’ve done it in the past – being the Coach. I think it’s cool and good for dads to coach their kids but I learned something about me when I coached. I’m one competitive beast. I want to win. I coached to win. I want our team to win.

My favorite saying – “Take a beating, give a beating.” Let you read the backstory here. Cowboy’s upset at the Vikings for the last touchdown? Cowboy up. You didn’t take the foot off the gas for Philly – and you shouldn’t have. Take your medicine like men.

What is bizarre is that Cooper and Camber have gotten this competitiveness… Cayden…not so much. Watching Cayden play is like watching a Disney movie. She’s running around, skipping, playing, smiling…generally having a good time. Deer and bluebirds sit on the sideline cheering everyone on.

“Who won?”

“Dad, that’s not why you play.”

“Really? Why then do you play?”

“Because it’s supposed to be fun.”

“Winning is fun.”

“Dad – it’s not whether you win or lose – ”

“You see, Cayden, that’s where you are wrong. It does matter – ”

Amy from the kitchen – “GRANT!!!!!”

“Ok, Cayden…we’ll finish this conversation later out of earshot of your mother.”

Which is funny because Amy is one competitive beast as well. Maybe more so than I am but I’ll let her tell her side of the story on her blog. Oh wait…she doesn’t have one. Oh well, you’ll have to take my word for it. If you played one of Amy’s teams back in the day, their goal was to hit the floor at 400 mph and not stop…ever.

And Coop and Cammy are more in that vein. I like this. I really like this. Not everybody agrees…and that’s fine but I think this competitiveness translates well into spiritual matters. That’s why I like it. In sports, if you want something you have to go get it. Work for it. Practice. Invest in it. Seek it. Pursue it. It doesn’t just happen. And the pursuit can be fun or it can be work – depending on your attitude and focus. Athletes themselves know there is value in the journey as well as the destination. But the destination absolutely has value and drives the journey.

Are you catching all the spiritual tie ins? I’m mentoring a couple of guys right now and this insight has finally clicked for them – if I want to be close to God, have intimacy with Jesus Christ – I have to want it, pursue it, invest it, practice it. It doesn’t just happen. Showing up on Sunday isn’t enough. The pursuit can be fun or work, depending on my attitude and focus. There’s value in the process of pursuit but the destination – closeness to Jesus, spiritual transformation – has the ultimate value and drives the journey.

So yeah, I’m coaching my kids….just not on the court.

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journal of a new lead pastor theological ramblings

A Very Good Long Sunday

January 11, 2010 – 11:12 am

Sunday, January 10
7.30 am – alarm goes off. Didn’t exactly sleep great last night. We had some dear friends come into town and spent the night with us. Nate & Cathy. They are going to be my ‘Secret Shoppers’ at Western Hills this morning. Kids are asleep. Amy is sort of asleep. I’m not sure if moms ever really sleep, sleep. But that’s another topic.

8.00 am – Poke head in kid’s rooms on way downstairs to make coffee and bagel. Praying for Bryan over at TBC, Joe at FBC, and Matt over at First Naz in Oakland. Check my phone real quick…got a text from Matt. He’s praying for me. Heading to church.

8.15 am – Forgot that the last time I was in my car, AC/DC was playing and the radio is REALLLLY loud when I crank it up. Turn off radio in route to church. I always drive to the church in silence. Pray for the churches I pass and our ministry team leaders.

8.30 am – Park in my traditional spot…furthest from the door. Rumors around the church are I park there because I’m forecasting a day when we run out of parking. Funny story, just not true. I blame Gene Wilkes and my father-in-law for this habit. Before Gene was the famous author and speaker, he was a pastor of transitioning church in Plano, Texas and I was an intern. Fixing bathrooms, ceiling tile, changing lights, and whatever else that needed to be fixed. As the church was growing, parking was scarce. To make sure guests and others had places to park, Gene and Tom started parking out on the street about a block away. It was a simple but profound statement of servant leadership to me. Been a habit ever since – find the furthest parking space and park there.

8.40 am – band is warming up. Rick is back. Randi and Charlie are here as well. This is my favorite time of the morning. Listening to the band, sitting in the back of the dark auditorium…it’s not practice for me. It really is worship. I enjoy this. Listening to the team fix, tweak, change at the last minute.

9.10 am – The worship team is in the back praying and once again I’m caught in the lobby. It’s not a huge deal – I love connecting with people and I know the importance of being available, touchable on Sunday morning. I’m talking with a 5th grader about the NFL Playoffs. I got the Ravens and the Cards. Going for the clean sweep of the weekend as I picked the Jets and Cowboys. He’s got the Ravens and the Packers. Is this really a significant conversation? Absolutely. At least I hope it is for the 5th grader. I’m not a rock star, I’m his pastor and friend that he can talk about life, spirituality and yes, even football with. If I hurry, I might be able to catch the team…

9.20 am – Shane is coming out of the prayer room. “You missed the prayer time. Don’t worry. We prayed for your salvation.” Big laughs follow. Rick and I do the man hug/hand shake thing before he goes out. Why? I’m not sure. It’s corny really but we do it almost every Sunday morning. I don’t think it makes service go any better…then again.

9.37 am – After opening song and welcome, show the art piece and introduce the artist of the morning. In both services, spontaneous applause erupts. First for the art piece then for the artist. What most folks don’t know about the artist – he’s walking through one of the hardest seasons of his life. I’ve known this kid for all of 5 months and in a single instant…when it registers on him that they are applauding him…I see joy in him.

The piece of art is incredible. There are nuances and details that I still find after staring at it for a few days. It’s the perfect illustration as to what makes us human – worship. We love to worship. We were created to worship. Yes, we get distracted and at times worship the wrong things but that is the reason we stand and applaud beauty and accomplishment. Worship.

11.00 am – Second service starts. Full house. Where are we going to put these people that keep showing up?

12.15 pm – Newcomer’s Brunch. Once again, Angie and Gary and that team have outdone themselves. Soup, sandwiches, cookies…great spread. Room is full. Introduce leaders and life group leaders. Watching folks connect with our life group leaders, passing out addresses and emails. 25 minutes later, the ‘program’ is done but people are still hanging around and connecting.

1.45 pm – late lunch with friends. Lots of laugh and get to hear from their perspective what a first time guest experiences at Western Hills. I’ll write more on this later. Much to think on but overall very positive experience.

3.15 pm – Home. Youth starts at 5.30, have some of our life group coming over at 6 pm. Officially we will start next week to get off the youth schedule. Before that — got to get a nap. Watch the opening quarter of Pats/Ravens game I DVR’d. Good night….go Ravens.

5.15 pm – Back to the church for youth open gym. David Manner shows up to help us set up the volleyball nets. Good thing because I’m not sure I’d ever gotten them up right without him. Good to see him finally.

6.10 pm – As usual, got talking at youth and now I’m late to my own house. Check phone — missed calls. Dang. On my way.

6.17 pm – We bust out Band Hero on the Wii. No one is brave enough to sing. Too bad.

7.45 pm – Amy and kids are back from youth. Cayden and Camber will now be the lead singers for our Life Group Band. It’s awesome.

9.30 pm – Last of the life group is leaving the house. One couple hangs around and we end up talking for another hour. This is church too. The life on life stuff that doesn’t happen in a building on Sunday morning. It can’t happen there. This is too vulnerable, risky. This kind of transparency and life change could only happen in a living room, a home.

10.35 pm – I’m pretty spent. Amy and I finish up an episode of Burn Notice. Talk about the day and the upcoming mission trip to Brazil.

A very good long Sunday.

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church & emergent musings journal of a new lead pastor

365 Days Ago

January 4, 2010 – 3:51 pm

January 4, 2009 was my first service as Lead Pastor at Western Hills. As many of you know, I’m not really a sentimental type, unless the topic is Alabama football but I was reminded of something yesterday by some of our congregants. WH wanted to focus on three things in 2009 – prayer, stewardship, and leadership. They had made that decision before I ever got on the scene. Not a bad three things to focus on any year but for WH it was crucial.

I’m humbled by what God did through that focus in these last 365 days.

The ‘outer’ accomplishments/markers are fairly easy to list –

Adopted an elementary school, supplied volunteers and school supplies throughout the year,

Potawatomi Nation relationship blossomed with serving at Pow Wow and giving Christmas gifts to reservation.

We added Rick Stones and Darci Koci to the team and they’ve been awesome.

We’ve grown as a church this year – both numerically, financially, and spiritually. Saw $102,000 in debt retired.

Our vision was clarified and codified. After years of process the mantra of Love God, Live Connected, Serve All is not just the rally cry but our leadership structure was biblically redefined.

So many more ‘things’ that could be added to the list – ministry to the homeless, student ministry stories, Upward, Life Groups… all of which were foundations setting us up for an incredible 2010…an opportunity to see God unleashed like never before.

But for me what is most impressive and the most important to remember is how we made decisions this year. The common fabric in all of these decisions? They were made out of a seasons of prayer, after seeking God’s wisdom and voice.

What a great 365. Ready to start the next 365.

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