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Unplugged@9 revisited
November 17, 2010 – 8:00 am
We transformed our first service a bit this weekend.
Okay, it ended up being a bigger change than we thought.
On the surface, it did not look like much of a change. We punted announcements. We unplugged all the instruments, used only two acoustic guitars. We brought the seats forward in a horseshoe. We took Rick and I off the stage and in the middle of the audience. The ‘message’ was a discussion through the scriptures, then we just opened up the dialog for questions, to engage with the story of God.
Why do this? Because we wanted to create space for folks to ask questions, to dialog about what they heard that morning. We have so many young to new believers (as well as just curious veterans) it made sense to try to incorporate this into our worship.
But there’s another reason as well. This kind of service represents a huge shift in understanding of worship and theology. Let me try to explain.
Worship for so many of us has morphed into meaning only music. “The worship was good this morning” means the music was what I liked, was performed well, fit the message, whatever. So what happens if we take away the music? Is it still worship? It ought to be. By unplugging, we’re decreasing our dependency of music and broadening our understanding of worship. Worship is when I give my money. Worship is when I read the scriptures. Worship is when I allow the scriptures to read me. Worship is when I serve the person next to me by welcoming them. It’s when I pause and reflect. It’s when I pray and listen. It’s when I teach those 2nd graders or volunteer in the nursery or the youth.
Worship is even when I am confused and confounded by God.
Could our questions be worship? I think so and this is a huge shift concerning theology. All good theology (in my opinion) must do these things:
All good theology must run through the Cross. If the cross doesn’t fit or doesn’t speak to what we believe, it’s pointless at best, damaging at worse.
All good theology has room for questions, the “I don’t know” of God. Some call this wonder. I can live with that word as well. If God is really God, we are not going to have all the dots connected, blanks filled, and holes accounted for in our theology. It’s impossible. We’re talking about limiting the eternal to words and images that He himself created.
If our theology is ironclad and has no room for questions or the “I have no idea” parts of God, I’m fairly certain it’s too small for God Himself.
I’m not saying we can’t know anything. See point 1 – the Cross. We can know many things. God created us. God loves us. God died for us. God redeems us. Jesus is the center of all of that. But it only takes a cursory reading of the story of God to see how important questions and wonder is in the making of a saint. How many heroes of the faith had wrestling matches with God? Moments of argument and confusion? Moments where they had to walk by faith not being able to fully understand God?
All of them. Every single one of them.
And if we are serious about being transformed by Jesus, we probably need to get comfortable with questions. And while that may stand in direct opposition of church services everywhere, I think it’s perfectly compatible with the example Jesus leaves us in the scriptures.
Reasons 14-29 of Why I Am In A Life Group
October 26, 2010 – 1:48 pm
You can check out the first 13 reasons if you missed them. After that conversation, I’ve been asking folks the same question when I remember. Here are more of the answers.
14. I know I have others praying for me.
15. And with me.
16. My kids get to have cool friends.
17. My older kids get to learn how to serve younger kids.
18. I don’t have to pretend to be okay with these people.
19. Finally found another adult to play Halo with. (names are withheld to protect the guilty.)
20. Gives my kids access to other adult believers.
21. I’m learning to be a better parent.
22. I’m learning to be a better spouse.
23. I feel more connected to God.
24. I have free emergency baby-sitters.
25. I now know how to pray to God.
26. I know someone I can borrow power tools from.
27. It’s where I can learn about Jesus without all the big, churchy words.
28. I feel more connected on Sunday morning.
There aren’t too many situations more intimidating than walking into a room full of people and not knowing the name of single person. It’s like that dream of showing up at school with nothing on but your underwear. And don’t lie to me either, we’ve all had it. That feeling of being exposed, vulnerable. HATE IT!! I had a friend tell me this week that looking for a church home was harder than finding a home to live in.
A Life Group is huge in bridging this gap on Sunday morning. It’s going to be difficult to feel connected without deep, meaningful relationships. A Life Group is THE way to develop these kinds of relationships.
And it doesn’t have to always be serious stuff. I know a life group that is going to carve jack-o-lanterns together this weekend.
Reason #29 – Learn how to carve a pumpkin.
We Still Doing See You At The Pole?
September 23, 2010 – 7:37 am
As I was dropping Cooper off at school yesterday, I noticed about 12 to 13 students gathered around the flagpole.
“Holy cow, man. How did we miss this? Today is See You At The Pole?”
Cooper: “Yeah…I guess it is.”
We just sat there for a moment and then Coop said, “Should I go to that instead of my club meeting?”
“Do what you think God is telling you to do.”
“I’m going on to my club meeting.”
“Great choice.”
I then hugged him & kissed him and told him to make wise choices in a loud voice.
Okay – I didn’t do that last line. Would never do that.
But as far as choices go, Cooper made a great one right then and there. Go to a club meeting with other students where the vast majority do NOT know Jesus and be the church with them? Or withdraw around a pole to pray for the school then never engage in NON-believing relationship the rest of the year?
I’m not anti-SYATP. I just don’t want to hear how it’s one of the most important things a student or a student pastor can do on a middle school or high school campus. It’s not. It’s not even in the top 200. And what started out as a cool tool to connect other student believers at the beginning of the school year, has morphed into a combative standoff with school administrations in some cities. Isn’t that the exact OPPOSITE of what we’re supposed to be doing?
If we really want to see God change a campus, join a club or a team and start being the Church in that context. SYIOCISIJN is what we need… See You Involved On Campus In Something In Jesus’ Name. And it needs to be all year long as we teach and coach students how to church in their school, how to be a person of blessing in Jesus’ name on their team, in the classrooms, with their friends.
Reggie McNeal and the Future of Church
September 15, 2010 – 9:39 am
I had the incredible honor of listening to Reggie talk yesterday. I’ve read his books, I’ve heard him multiple times – he never gets old. It’s like listening to Yoda…and he’s about that same height. My favorite quotes from yesterday.
Being missional starts with the understanding that Christianity is not a western philosophy but an encounter with the real person of Jesus.
I’m not here to help you do church better. I’m here to challenge you to BE the church FOR your community, not just IN your community.
The Church, not A church. When people say “a church” they reveal that they don’t get it. We are THE church. We church wherever we go.
Missional Church is a redundant term.
Missional is simply the people of God partnering with Him in His redemptive mission in the world. He is already at work, we are to be a people of blessing in that work.
The Church is a people of blessing. This mission predates the church because blessing is the character of God himself. See Genesis 12.
How can we practice being the church? Start asking “how can we be a people of blessing?” How can we bless at our jobs, schools, clubs, social circles, city, community?
Every church ought to have at least one school they have adopted. Showing up at a school once a year to paint the playground is NOT a partnership. Pray for those teachers, provide school supplies, ask them – “what do you need to help you overcome the obstacles that you are facing?”
The problems of our community first manifest themselves in our schools.
We aren’t the point. The Church isn’t the point. Thinking the point is the church is like thinking the airport is the point of travel. We go to places and the airport is the means to the ends. It’s a vital part of our journey but the journey isn’t about spending time in the airport. The Airport is a tool. Same for church – she is a connector to real LIFE and Kingdom.
One of the largest obstacles we face in the West is the Outsource Mindset. We outsource everything – car maintenance, lawn mowing, education and even spiritual formation. Program based churches feed this monster. What is needed is more people-development, more life on life, as we go, in the middle of life church.
Don’t Miss This Sunday
September 8, 2010 – 10:28 am
This Sunday we are taking a pause in our current series LIFE for a HUGE announcement.
How big? HUGE big…Monster BIG. Like — I can’t even tell you how BIG, you’re just going to have to experience it.
Here’s what I can say – this Sunday is a culmination of over 9 months of prayer and a living application of what we have been walking through in our current series – LIFE. Am I overstating? I don’t think so.
LIFE has focused on how we are spiritual first and we were designed for intimate relationship. We NEED both VERTICAL (with God) and HORIZONTAL (with each other) intimacy. God wired us this way and Jesus modeled to us what this looks like by His life on earth. It’s why the early church copied Jesus’ model of life-on-life, small group discipleship.
The point of all of this is to hear from God and be changed by Him to look like Jesus so we can serve others. Everything hinges on this – hearing from God then our obedience to what we heard. If we don’t hear from God, at best it is all legalism – at worst it’s a glorified “look at me” show. If we want to really experience LIFE to its fullest, we’ve got to hear from God and get on His agenda and plan – not ours.
Because He knows more than we do. And he loves more than we do.
Sunday I have the AWESOME opportunity to share a story of all of this in action. A story very close to home, a story that is going to have a HUGE impact on our church for YEARS to come. You do NOT want to miss it. Then Sunday night we giving another opportunity to interact with this story firsthand, 6 to 7.30 pm.
I am honored and humbled to be serving at a church where the words we speak are more than just words. It’s really how we are trying to do life.
Praise God and see ya’ Sunday.
The Worship Planning Experience
September 2, 2010 – 7:12 am
If you fail to plan, you’ve planned to fail.
…plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. Dwight D. Eisenhower
I’ve been asked quite a bit about our Creative Team at the church and how it functions. Thought I’d give a ‘behind the scenes’ tour this morning.
First, there are about 7 of us and we meet every week (Monday afternoons). Our mission is to create worship environments and experiences that help connect people to God. We spend a little time each week reviewing and evaluating the last service, then start dreaming 2 to 3 weeks ahead.
When we start a series we start thinking physical space – what should the stage look like? What should the room feel like? What elements and props can we use to further push the theme and topic home? What other creative elements should we explore? Drama, dance, lighting, video clips, audience participation — all are a part of this discussion.
We want the worship experience to start before any note or any word is ever spoken. It’s why our worship auditorium has been a coffee shop, a living room, a carpenters workshop, a battleship, a jail cell, and a kitchen just to name a few. I want all the senses (as much as we can) to be involved in worship. We even baked bread one morning when we taught on Jesus saying He was the bread of life.
Almost everyone hears this concept and loves it. And there is much to love. However, it isn’t for everyone. I’ve had a couple of experiences over the years that illustrate this point. If creative, out of the box thinkers who will say whatever comes into their head intimidates you — this isn’t for you. If you are married to an idea and can’t handle someone else ripping it to shreds or changing it to make it better — this isn’t for you. On the other hand, if you don’t mind throwing 12 ideas up at one time just to see which 1 will work — this is perfect for you.
This includes the sermon. It’s open for every one to comment on, change, or critique. I’m the key deliverer but the thoughts and points get prayed on and discussed over in this room first. There have been times where the team has said – “Grant, I don’t think that’s the main point.” Or “Is that the best way to communicate this? How does that tie back into the epic story we think God is trying to tell in this series?”
The root of all of this is the desire to worship Jesus and to provide an environment where others can do the same. We ask that question of every single element and every single service — does this help connect people to God? Furthermore, we don’t stop with that question but push further. Why are we doing this element? How does it fit the rest of the service? How is a lost person or a new in Christ person going to respond to this? Are we doing this just because it is cool or does it have impact and meaning?
The results are nothing sort of stunning. I’ve been amazed at the insight and creativity of our people. They see their artistry with words, canvas, and drywall as a gift of God to be used. It’s a messy, crazy, vulnerable way to “do worship” and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Just thought you’d like to know…
Can Lead Pastors and Youth Pastors Coexist?
July 22, 2010 – 8:15 am
Kurt left this comment last week –
How does the former youth pastor/present lead pastor come alongside the youth ministry without becoming a distraction?
I loved it when the lead pastor poked his head in on the students – whether that be during Bible study or a mid-week life group or a trip. I loved it because we can never have too many godly adults hanging around teenagers. I loved it because it hopefully connected the student to the larger church congregation, not just the youth group.
But I hear what Kurt is saying. And it’s a legitimate question.
My short answer – don’t show up on the trip as a former youth pastor or the current lead pastor. Show up as a volunteer, like everybody else.
This past week I went with our middle schoolers to Super Summer. Gina was the leader of the trip and she did an outstanding job. She was organized, she delegated responsibilities out to the team that went, me included. She kept us on task without being overbearing. She kept us informed and did a great job in our church group times.
And I loved every minute of it. First, it always amps me to see a volunteer lead, to take ownership of a ministry and lead it well. That volunteer is getting to use their gifts and hopefully casting a vision for others to do the same.
Second, it freed me up. I could be a friend, a pastor to the students. I wasn’t the heavy, I wasn’t the organizer, I didn’t have to be cool or “on” all the time. I didn’t have to have all the answers. I hung out with my guys, was available to counsel and talk when needed. In short, did all the things a volunteer would do.
A student can never have too many adults that love Jesus in their life. Never. And when I go on these trips, I want to be a help to the youth team and leaders, not a distraction. I also want that student to connect to the larger congregation as well.
Kurt – you are now in this position — what’s your take? Or anyone else for that matter…
We Are All Worship Leaders
June 21, 2010 – 11:16 am
I led worship and taught yesterday for the first time in eons. I was pretty fortunate to have an awesome worship band with me to cover my mistakes and laugh with. First service — played the intro to the wrong closing song. Band did a quick double take then was ready to adapt and jump in when I realized what I had done. Stopped playing and we all laughed.
“Sorry — let me try the right song that everyone was expecting I would play.”
We did one song in the key of “Rick” and decided that no human can really sing that high. Rick must be a mereman or something like that. We pulled it off okay but it stretched the vocal chords a bit. No one got up and left the service or revoked their salvation so I think I did a serviceable job on the morning.
The truth of the matter is this – if you are on staff at a church, you’re bottom line, baseline job description is Worship Pastor. Doesn’t matter what your other duties are — you are ultimately a worship leader. Doesn’t matter if the only thing you can play is an iPod or a radio. You’re primary job is to focus and push people to Jesus, to put them in a place where they have an opportunity to have a life-changing encounter with Him. And that IS worship.
I’ve played around in my mind with the idea of changing all of our titles to make sure we get this — Teaching Worship Pastor, Children’s Worship Pastor, Student Ministry Worship Pastor, Music & Arts Worship Pastor. Whatever you’re specific focus is — that goes in the front followed by the ultimate focus of all our jobs — to lead others in worship.
In the Army, they train every soldier how to use a rifle – the basic infantry fighting weapon. Why? Because no matter what your specific training is in – your ultimate job is a soldier. At the end of the day, nothing else matters.
At the end of the day, nothing else matters – worship. Everything we do is either a result of this or the focus of this. We do missions because there are people in the world who don’t yet worship Jesus. We do children’s ministry because they are kids that don’t know how crazy God is about them. We do adult Life Groups because there are families that will only be healed through worship.
We are ALL worship leaders.
RAFT, Part 2
June 2, 2010 – 8:15 am
How important is RAFT?
RAFT must be a non-negotiable for an organization to have long term success in developing people. There really should be no compromising on these four traits – responsive, available, faithful, and teachable. If we cheat on these early, the consequences get steep even fatal later.
The plain truth of the matter is that these are in fact unavoidable. You WILL deal with them one way or another. It’s inevitable. Choosing to ignore them out of the gate is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. (Which is both a worn-out cliche and a horrible movie.) General rule of thumb is the more you compromise early, the more you’ll have to compromise later. An entrenched non-RAFT person is miserable, makes everyone around them miserable and CAN infect the whole system. And we’re not doing them any favors either because whatever missing piece they have is hindering their effectiveness. No amount of gifting and training will compensate for a missing RAFT piece.
So what’s the answer? Only accept those RAFTs? What about someone who is only missing a letter? What if you’ve got a RFT or a AFT or a FAR? (I’d make more acronyms but it’s getting dangerous.) Instead of punting them to the curb, I’d start with the missing letter. If Joe is an awesome candidate for a leadership role but he’s just so busy with work, then that’s the first thing we approach. “Joe, I see a ton of potential. Faithful, teachable, and all around responsive and pleasant to be with. But your schedule…what’s up with that? To be effective, you’ve got to be available. How are we going to tackle this?”
And we stay on that issue until it is resolved. I’ll stay on the journey with them as long as I’m seeing some progress and we stay working on that foundational issue.
However, there is a tipping point. This is when the potential is seen, a taste of what could be is had and the potential monster leader realizes that to go any further and deeper is going to require a significant personal change. Will they take the plunge or walk away? Will you as a leader take them to that point ON PURPOSE or will you avoid that point? Will you hold loosely and allow God to deal in His time and His way? Will we have the same courage to do as Jesus did and watch them “walk away sad because he was a man of great wealth?”
In that moment – I try to do everything I can to not compromise RAFT as well as keep the door open for them to return, to try again.
Next up: Where does gifting fit in developing people?
I’m Looking for a RAFT
May 25, 2010 – 4:33 pm
This is part of the Beyond The Starting 5 project. A writing safari where I explore the idea of what people-development looks like in the local church. I have no idea what I’m doing, mileage may vary.
“What exactly are you looking for when you look for a great volunteer?”
I think a lot of people set themselves up for failure right out of the gate because they don’t have a good answer to this question. They either expect too little or too much. Both errors are costly.
I just need a warm body. Wrong answer. If you get the wrong person with the wrong gifting with the wrong passion in the wrong place, it is just going to make everyone involved miserable. The worker, the leader, the participants — it will be like poison. Plus, if they don’t know they are the wrong person with the wrong gifting and the wrong passion, it may take years to fix that problem and all of the sudden the collateral damage will be huge. A warm body is expecting WAY too little.
We need Jesus, we’ll settle for Paul. Then there is the other extreme – expecting new volunteers to be mature, gifted, and skilled in leading a bible study with middle school boys their first night. Or being able to deal with a difficult topic the first Life Group. This is the “God knows I need this particular person and He will bring that person to me” mindset. It’s dangerous because disciples are made, leaders are developed. They don’t hatch and miraculously show up.
So what’s the baseline? This is where the RAFT comes in. Responsive (gets things done), Available, Faithful (dedicated), and Teachable.
If a person has those 4 key traits, I’m willing to roll the dice with them. Being teachable is probably the biggest one. If the person can’t or won’t listen to coaching, God will have to break them some more before they are ready for leadership.
I was talking with a bunch of other pastors in town about the baseline of leadership development and the question was asked if the person had to be a believer. For example – could a non-Christian guitarist play on the worship team? For most of the guys, the answer was no. Part of their baseline for serving and being developed — they already had to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. In other words, one would have to belong before they could be invested in and developed.
I disagree. I went back to the RAFT. If a person has those 4 key characteristics and they are willing to take the journey — I am too. Serving and people development then becomes another avenue for people to connect with Jesus and His church. Now, I’m not going to set this person up as a Life Group Leader or a teacher. BUT – not having a relationship with Jesus is not going to be the excluder for being invested in and developed.
I got a little push back on this and I told the guys — In your scenario, the person leaves the church and probably doesn’t come back. In my scenario, they have to spend 1.5 hour ‘band’ practice a week playing songs about Jesus. They have to sit through 2 services on Sunday morning. They have to research and listen to music they probably don’t normally listen to — which will be about Jesus. Then they are going to develop relationships with members of our worship team and figure out they all aren’t crazy. I’ll take my chances that my person is going to meet Jesus before your person does.
But — RAFT will only go so far. Can’t just stay there and that be considered development. More on that later.
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