JourneyWorship

Being Authentic in a Programmed Age

Hey team,
Here's a great article from Carlos Whittaker about programming the Sunday morning worship experience. Great thoughts. I'd love your feedback as to where Journey is and should be on this spectrum.

"Soulless Sundays: Being Authentic in a Programmed Age"
by Carlos Whittaker

Five years ago I was leading worship every Sunday in a gym with no moving lights and a basketball hoop over my head. I could add a song on the fly and write a song backstage to play in the next service if my heart desired. I also had little thoughts of anything outside those walls.

Next week I will be leading worship in a state of the art building designed with a “worship experience” in mind. The lighting is programmed to the music 3 days before Sunday and the camera shots are rehearsed so that everything is flawless. I will lead within the time frame I am given and if I go over, many other environments in that church building will be affected.

Which scenario is right? Which is wrong? Can we walk the line?

These are valid questions, but they aren’t the right questions. The question should be…

“How do we create an environment that allows the attendee to feel connected to God through the tools and people He has chosen?”

When that becomes the question, style and over-analysis go out the window. Conversations become less about transitions and more about the message. Worship leaders begin to feel safe to be used to actually lead worship – even within a time frame. Producers begin to build a service with doors and windows that allow access while maintaining the walls that make the service strategic.

This is a hard balance to find. And honestly, I don’t think it will ever be perfected. But I do think there are some practical steps that can be taken in order to allow for authenticity while striving for excellence.

Build a house and not a castle.
A house is a place where people are welcome to come and go as they feel. Windows allow light to come in and air to be circulated. It is an inviting place where community can take place while being protected from the elements.

A castle’s ultimate purpose is protection. There’s usually a moat and a drawbridge – and quite possibly a princess chained to a room at the top of some tower. A dragon keeps watch over the princess to make sure she doesn’t get away.

No light is let into the castle and no windows exist. The castle is secure and safe.

Many church staffs are beginning to program their services more like a castle than a house. Worship leaders are chained to a tower and are watched closely by the staff so they don’t “escape” their confines. (Not that I don’t think all worship leaders are princesses. But some are closer than others. And not that I think all producers of services are dragons. But some are closer than others.)

The service is built with no room for authenticity and it’s evident to everyone standing inside. The service is built with great intentions; mind you – protection being number one.

But we believe: “Protect against mistakes and you will have a great service.”

I think this is the wrong way of going about it. Let me give you what I consider a great solution for the over-programmed church service where they are looking for authenticity in structure: Build a house instead.

A house is a building that has a framework. Did you producers hear that? Framework. This means structure. This means programming. Yet, while this house/service is being built, windows and doors are put in to allow freedom and authenticity to come in as well. The people inside the house feel like they are protected but they don’t notice the 2×4′s holding the house together. Instead they notice the host/worship leader and their genuineness about having them over. The home is decorated/programmed beautifully and real community can actually take place.

So as you structure your services with all the great tools and people that God has blessed your church with, focus on the doors and windows as well as the walls you put up.

Play your faders like instruments
With all the technology at our disposal we can almost program a service to run itself. Pro Tools, HOG Consoles, Pitch Control…all of these things are beautiful tools that make things look and sound great. We just have to make sure we leave some humanity in it all.

There is something to be said about a well-programmed light show. The lights go up when the vocalist sings, “rise.” The mood is red as we sing about despair. But I often wonder if maybe one song out of three should be run on the fly as opposed to preprogrammed.

The obvious dilemma is the person running the console. They have to be “excellent” at their job in order to pull this off. But once you have a volunteer or staff member who knows the console like the back of their hand, make them run a song or two live.

How does this add to authenticity? When there is a heartbeat that fuels a soul that feeds a mind to push a fader, humanity is involved. It might be a second late or a smidgen early, but it feels real. And real feels good.

This is a good step in bringing some authenticity into the technical side of the service.

Another example is your front-of-house tech. Find someone who plays that board like an instrument. Who knows the song as well as the band does. Suddenly the band has another member. And they sound amazing.

Note that you can accomplish all this even while having things preprogrammed. Just allow some freedom to your techs and the next thing you know, they are creating art alongside the band.

These are just two of the concepts that I try to wrap my mind around while programming a service. I trust that authenticity will happen when the right people are entrusted and the right structure is in place. Some of you might sway farther one way than the other. That’s great! Find the right balance for you and your community and I promise that your attendees will be talking about how God touched them in the service before they mention how great the service looked and felt. You should strive for both compliments, although I hope the foremost is your goal.

Remember that your goal should be that His name be made famous and lives and hearts give in to His authenticity. He has entrusted us with much so prepare in such a way that lets Him work.

"Death of Perfectionism" by Stephen Brewster

Hey team,
Here's a great blogpost that Adam came across recently by Stephen Brewster, Creative Arts Pastor at Cross Point Community Church. Let it be a good reminder to all of us what we are striving for musically and creatively each and every weekend. And also what we were striving for with "Take Your Place" our latest worship project. Don't forget: August 12!!

“The song is never done.”

That was one of the first lessons I learned when I joined the music business and started working with artists. It was also my first encounter with the battle artists have – the desire to create “perfect art” – an irony in its own right.

Art will never be perfect. It’s not possible. Art is created from broken places by broken people who live in a broken world. It’s the answer to their brokenness. Art doesn’t have the capacity to be perfect. It’s created from the soul of imperfect humans – obviously disqualifying ourselves from the ability to create anything “perfect.” We have to embrace the fact that, try as we may, we will never be able to create anything perfect. That’s not just okay. It’s actually almost perfect.

Part of the beauty of art is the imperfection that wraps every note, idea, color, design, and possibility. The best art is an authentic and vulnerable expression of self out of an imperfect artist. When we apply a spiritual lens to this thought, it’s the imperfections in us – the artists – and the art we create that God uses to show His art of grace, mercy, love, and redemption.

We often forget this powerful reality.

We replace a holy imperfection with our effort to create something that is “perfect” in the eyes of men. We strive to please people, bosses, critics, or even the art itself. We get confused and begin to believe that our identity is found not in the Creator of creation, but in the creations themselves.

So, where do we find a balance? What is the difference between excellence and perfection? How do we avoid the dangerous and impossible trap of creating perfect art in an imperfect world?

The death of perfectionism starts with the artist identifying where their value and identity exist. As creative people, we frequently lose sight of these truths about ourselves:

We will never be perfect.
We won’t always be right.
We won’t always be accepted – and neither will the stuff we create.
Our contributions are bigger than our products.
People love us for the soul of who we are, not the art that we make.
As artists, we’re primarily responsible for stewarding our gifts – not trying to make them perfect. This is the first step to finding a healthy balance of who we are and where we find our identity. Being a feeler, being creative, and having the ability to connect to emotions is a tremendous gift that we’ve been given. Making sure that our acceptance and affirmation come from a loving, perfect, heavenly Father rather than a fickle, imperfect critic is vital. Without applying this filter, we’ll find ourselves without direction, purpose, or self-worth when our art is rejected.

As artists, we have to be aware of these traps. The busier our lives get, the more projects we face, the faster the days get, the more voices we start to hear, the better others’ work becomes all start to cloud our vision for what “excellent” looks like in our world.

The tension in anyone who creates is to always find ways to create our best art. Best doesn’t necessarily mean perfect. But it does mean excellent. Excellence is required. It’s part of the learning and growth process of any artist. The art you’re creating today – if you’re growing – is better than the art you made three years ago. That doesn’t mean what you created three years ago was not your best work at that time. It just means you are growing and getting better. It also means you’re creating art that is closer to your “new excellent” as you refine your craft. Excellence is a value that can be felt, while perfection is a theory that is hard to quantify.

As long as we’re human, we will never truly be free from the traps of perfectionism. They’re going to slip into our scope all the time. It’s so important that we keep our antennas up and watch for a drift toward an unhealthy obsession with perfection. The scary and costly way to avoid this drift is to continually create out of a place of authenticity and vulnerability. Put a piece of you into all your creations. It won’t be easy, it will hurt, and at times it will be rejected. But that creates more opportunity for you to be broken and recreate your next piece of art that is even more vulnerable and more real.

God created us perfectly imperfect – full of opportunity to be embraced by His grace, mercy, and love. Take that truth and create your absolute best art. And destroy perfectionism.

5.6.12 Recap

STASH - Week 1

Often we confuse possessing and managing. 

We are managers of God's stuff. We are not the owners.

We often center our life around the accumulation of stuff. And what use to be an attitude of desperation becomes a sense of entitlement because of your accomplishments.

Colossians 1:16 - "Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created by God's Son, and everything was made for him."

1 Chronicles 29:11-14 - "Your power is great, and your glory is seen everywhere in heaven and on earth. You are king of the entire world, and you rule with strength and power. You make people rich and powerful and famous. We thank you, our God, and praise you. But why should we be happy that we have given you these gifts? They belong to you, and we have only given back what is already yours."

The logical question is, "if it's all God's stuff, what am I supposed to do with it?"

God's blessing is always for his glory. His favor is always to display His glory. God doesn't bless us all the same, but he blesses us all. 

We are all rich, because we have more than we need. 

He wants us to use his stash that he lends for Kingdom impact.

The Principle of Firstfruits: He wants you to bless him back by giving back a tenth, a tithe, from the first fruits. He doesn't want your leftovers.

It's a test to see where your heart is. 

Matt. 6:21 - Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Tithing, is an action to demonstrate where your heart is. 

Matthew 25:14-30 - Parable of the buried Talents - what blessings are you missing out of because you're mismanaging God's stuff? And what eternal impact are you missing out on because of your mismanagement of God's stuff? There are no limits to what God wants to do wiht you if you hold onto your stuff loosely. 

If you get the right perspective and realize that it's not your job, it's not your car, it's not your stuff, ultimately you will you start to handle his stuff correctly.
 
1. Examine Your priorities
2. Exercise Restraint - planned spending (i.e. envelope system)
3. Evaluate it daily

The more margin you have, the more peace you have. The less margin you have, the more stress.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 - "Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that is easily lost. Tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with everything we need to enjoy life. Instruct them to do as many good deeds as they can and to help everyone. Remind the rich to be generous and share what they have. This will lay a solid foundation for the future, so they will know what true life is like. Timothy, guard what God has placed in your care! Don't pay any attention to godless and stupid talk that sounds smart but really isn't."

Once you see that it's God's stuff, you start to see things differently. Changing your perspective will absolutely change your destiny.

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Worship Set:
1. For Your Name (Hillsong)
2. The Saving One (Starfield)
3. Cornerstone (Hillsong)
4. From the Inside Out (Hillsong)
5. God Be Praised (Hillsong)

5.6.12 Recap

STASH - Week 1

Often we confuse possessing and managing. 

We are managers of God's stuff. We are not the owners.

We often center our life around the accumulation of stuff. And what use to be an attitude of desperation becomes a sense of entitlement because of your accomplishments.

Colossians 1:16 - "Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen, including all forces and powers, and all rulers and authorities. All things were created by God's Son, and everything was made for him."

1 Chronicles 29:11-14 - "Your power is great, and your glory is seen everywhere in heaven and on earth. You are king of the entire world, and you rule with strength and power. You make people rich and powerful and famous. We thank you, our God, and praise you. But why should we be happy that we have given you these gifts? They belong to you, and we have only given back what is already yours."

The logical question is, "if it's all God's stuff, what am I supposed to do with it?"

God's blessing is always for his glory. His favor is always to display His glory. God doesn't bless us all the same, but he blesses us all. 

We are all rich, because we have more than we need. 

He wants us to use his stash that he lends for Kingdom impact.

The Principle of Firstfruits: He wants you to bless him back by giving back a tenth, a tithe, from the first fruits. He doesn't want your leftovers.

It's a test to see where your heart is. 

Matt. 6:21 - Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

Tithing, is an action to demonstrate where your heart is. 

Matthew 25:14-30 - Parable of the buried Talents - what blessings are you missing out of because you're mismanaging God's stuff? And what eternal impact are you missing out on because of your mismanagement of God's stuff? There are no limits to what God wants to do wiht you if you hold onto your stuff loosely. 

If you get the right perspective and realize that it's not your job, it's not your car, it's not your stuff, ultimately you will you start to handle his stuff correctly.
 
1. Examine Your priorities
2. Exercise Restraint - planned spending (i.e. envelope system)
3. Evaluate it daily

The more margin you have, the more peace you have. The less margin you have, the more stress.

1 Timothy 6:17-19 - "Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that is easily lost. Tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with everything we need to enjoy life. Instruct them to do as many good deeds as they can and to help everyone. Remind the rich to be generous and share what they have. This will lay a solid foundation for the future, so they will know what true life is like. Timothy, guard what God has placed in your care! Don't pay any attention to godless and stupid talk that sounds smart but really isn't."

Once you see that it's God's stuff, you start to see things differently. Changing your perspective will absolutely change your destiny.

------
Worship Set:
1. For Your Name (Hillsong)
2. The Saving One (Starfield)
3. Cornerstone (Hillsong)
4. From the Inside Out (Hillsong)
5. God Be Praised (Hillsong)

2-26-12

Worship Set 2-26-12

1. Here For You (Passion, Chris Tomlin)
2. God is Able (Hillsong)
3. Rhythms of Grace (Hillsong United)
4. How Great Thou Art (Page CXVI arrangement)

Worship & Tech Vision-Casting Recap

If you are on our worship & tech team and you missed last Sunday's vision-casting time (which was a lot of you ... but we're not bitter :), we don't want you to be left in the dark. We do want to encourage you, however, (before we get into this post) to make these gatherings a priority. We really only do them about 4 times a year, so it's imperative that you be there so that you are on a unified front with us. It's especially important as our team grows that we get back on the same page as much and as quickly as possible. So, thanks for helping us with that.

So, here are the major highlights of the meeting:

1. Smooth shared about how some on the team have been showing up late for rehearsals and on Sunday mornings, and in addition, some have come to rehearsals unprepared and half-hearted. He encouraged us all to come with an attitude of expectation, not an attitude of entitlement. We are all servants for the King, and we must take our job seriously. We wouldn't show up late for a meeting with the President. How much more should we take seriously the high calling of leading people in worship?!

2. Josh shared from 2 Chronicles 20 about how it was the musicians and singers who went out first on the battle lines in Jehoshaphat's army. God didn't send out his fiercest warriors first. He sent out the musicians and singers. He sent out the worship team. We are in a battle every weekend. God is moving and working at Journey. And He is sending us into battle to fight the powers of darkness. We don't do it with physical weapons, but we do it with the weapons of our worship.

3. Adam shared about some upcoming changes on the horizon. We will be implementing a series of classes called "Worship Essentials." These foundational classes will help paint a broad-stroke picture of what worship is all about. It will help those who are musicians as well as vocalists to begin to understand their role and how they play a part in the grand scheme that we call worship. Of course, worship is a lifestyle, so these classes will begin to train the worshiper on what it means to live a lifestyle of worship and how the stage is simply an overflow of the daily worship that is happening in the life of the believer all week long. The goal is for it to be a very practical tool to help all of us on the team be better at what we do. We are still in the process of writing this curriculum, and one of the beautiful things about it is that we will all be hearing from many of our peers on the worship team who have had many life experiences in worship circles all over the country as well as to learn from their sea of wisdom and knowledge and glean from it.

That's the meeting in a nutshell. But we also want to share one other update that just came into fruition since the meeting. Many of you have asked about the next Journey Worship album that we began working on last summer. Well, obviously, it hasn't been released yet because we put the brakes on it while Josh Via was completing the adoption in Uganda. Now, we are beginning to roll again. Thought the project will likely be finished in just a couple more months, we will wait and release it on August 12. That will be a big day in the life of Journey as we open Phase 2 of the new space and officially launch Life City Church, among many other exciting things. We appreciate everyone's patience on this. We're all excited about what God is planning to do through it and how He plans to use it for His glory. Thanks for playing a crucial part in it. Whether or not you play or sing a note on this, it's a reflection of all of us who make up Journey Worship, and we hope and pray that you feel buy-in. Because it's all for His glory and honor.

Thanks for reading!

The Worship Staff

Time to Grow Up -Week 2 Recap

Today we continued throuh the "Time to Grow Up" series and Pastor Jimmy taught on the common elements of spiritual growth. Not that spiritual growth is a formula. It's not. It's a relationship. But there are certain common elements to spiritual growth.

1. Surrender - Luke 9:23-25 - "let him deny himself and come after me.."
You cannot grow without surrender. And it's not a one time deal.

The difference b/t commitment and surrender: Commitment is dependent on your ability and motivation. But you'll fail if it's up to your effort. But surrender is Him living his life through you. My commitment is born out of my surrender. 

2. Spending time in the Word - It's true that you could theoretically meet God without the Bible. (i.e. someone accepting Christ through the witness of a missionary in a country where the Bible has not been printed in their language). BUT you can't fully know him apart from His Word. 

His Word is Inspired (God-breathed), inerrant (without error), infallible (uncapable of having error), and authoritative (our instruction book for life and practice).

But be careful: Knowledge puffs up. Knowledge of the Bible does not necessarily mean spiritual maturity. Spiritual growth is not intellectual, it's relational. The goal is God, not knowledge of God. 

3. Prayer - prayer connects us to God. conversation with God. speaking and listening. silence and solitude.

4. Community - we grow best in the context of community.

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Worship Set:
1. Awakening (Hillsong United version)
2. With Us (Hillsong)
3. How Great Thou Art (Page CXVI version)
4. Rhythms of Grace (Hillsong United)

Time to Grow Up -Week 2 Recap

Today we continued throuh the "Time to Grow Up" series and Pastor Jimmy taught on the common elements of spiritual growth. Not that spiritual growth is a formula. It's not. It's a relationship. But there are certain common elements to spiritual growth. 1. Surrender - Luke 9:23-25 - "let him deny himself and come after me.." You cannot grow without surrender. And it's not a one time deal. The difference b/t commitment and surrender: Commitment is dependent on your ability and motivation. But you'll fail if it's up to your effort. But surrender is Him living his life through you. My commitment is born out of my surrender.  2. Spending time in the Word - It's true that you could theoretically meet God without the Bible. (i.e. someone accepting Christ through the witness of a missionary in a country where the Bible has not been printed in their language). BUT you can't fully know him apart from His Word.  His Word is Inspired (God-breathed), inerrant (without error), infallible (uncapable of having error), and authoritative (our instruction book for life and practice). But be careful: Knowledge puffs up. Knowledge of the Bible does not necessarily mean spiritual maturity. Spiritual growth is not intellectual, it's relational. The goal is God, not knowledge of God.  3. Prayer - prayer connects us to God. conversation with God. speaking and listening. silence and solitude. 4. Community - we grow best in the context of community. ---------------- Worship Set: 1. Awakening (Hillsong United version) 2. With Us (Hillsong) 3. How Great Thou Art (Page CXVI version) 4. Rhythms of Grace (Hillsong United)

Time to Grow Up

Week 1 of "Time to Grow Up" was off the chain. Adam and the worship team brought it strong. The Spirit was moving and at work. It's obvious that the Lord is up to something in our midst. Pastor Jimmy reminded us that it is the Lord that is at work. It's not us. The 150+ people that have been baptized in the past 5 weeks is all the Lord's doing. He's pouring out a special anointing among us; an anointing that He has offered to churches in the past. Some chose to get on mission. Others chose to quench the Spirit. Journey is a church that is choosing the mission of God. We're not about to turn inward. We're not about to isolate ourselves and become a museum. We're staying on mision, by the help and grace of God. 

Jimmy said that knowing where we want to be and seeing a clear vision of who we want to become is only the first step. We have to want it. 

For most Christians the breakdown happens not at the vision stage, but at the desire stage. Do we really want it? I can see where I want to be but do I want it? That's where most christians throw their hands up and say, "No, I'm not willing to pay the price. I'm not willing to pay the cost of surrender."

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. 

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

Paul also said in Philippians 3:7-10,

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

The bottom line is this: You will never grow to a level that your desire doesn't take you.

You don't accidentally drift into maturity. It's intentional. You won't accientally wake up in shape. There is a cost involved.

Growth requires observation. So, the question is where is your red dot? Where is your "You are Here"?

The call for us, Journey, is to grow up. To ask God for the desire to grow, to know where our starting point is, and then get after it! Let's do it, by the grace of God.

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We worshiped to:

1. Go (Hillsong United)

2. Holding Nothing Back (Tim Hughes, Martin Smith - Jesus Culture version)

3. Rhythms of Grace (Hillsong United)

4. How Great Thou Art (Page CXVI version)

The band was: Adam Neal (keys, worship leader), Patience Leino (worship leader), Jordan Leino (drums), Christian Mikkan (bass), Heather Neese (vox, worship leader), Jamie Joyce (electric guitar), Will Miller (electric guitar), and Jeremy Morin (acoustic guitar).

#Follower - Week 3

Well, it's time to resurrect the Journey Worship blog. After a few months of Josh being away in Uganda, this thing fell by the wayside. So, let's get back at it, shall we?

Today was week three of the series "Follower." Pastor Jimmy's main idea today was very simply that followers help others follow. He stated that the American version of the Gospel, for the most part, distorts the truth Gospel. In our version, WE are the end of the Gospel. We say things like "when He was on the cross, I was on his mind." But that's not the whole Gospel. It's true that you are the beneficiary of God's grace, but you are not the END of his grace. He saves you so that you can make him known. Sanctification is the process of Him shining his light in everything that doesn't look like Jesus. So that he who started the good work wil be faithful to complete it. The light of the world becomes light in us so that he can be the light through us. He extends his grace to you so he can be grace through you.

Matt 4:18-20 - "While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Disciples help make disciples.

You are either on mission or you are the mission.

1 Cor 3:6-8 - "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

You have to know your role and your limits in helping People follow Jesus.

Your condemnation and judgment will never bring someone to Jesus!

PRACTICAL THINGS

1. Partner with a local church

• Sacrificing - with the same dollar you can worship God and fund the mission! 
• Serving 

2. Share your story 

3. Invest and invite - leverage your relationships for the Gospel

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Worship Set

1. You Deserve (Hillsong)

2. Holding Nothing Back (Jesus Culture vers.)

3. With Us (Hillsong)

4. Unending Love (Hillsong)