What does a Worship Leader REALLY do day to day…???

If you’re in ministry, you’ve heard this joke more than once.  ”Must be nice working only one day a week!”  And we all have a good laugh.  But I always wonder, “Do you really think that I only work one day a week?”  I feel like I work fairly hard, but my job is sometimes hard to quantify except to say that I do a lot more grunt work and paper work than most people realize.  And then I saw this pic come through the Facebook stream awhile ago…

Now this really is FUNNY!  And as I was laughing it got me thinking…Everyone has a different view of what I do!  DO I EVEN KNOW WHAT I DO EACH WEEK?  So I thought I’d keep a log of my week and help everyone clarify just what I do with my job each week…so here goes…a week in the life of an ECC worship leader…

Monday

8:25-Roll into office

8:30-Fill out Weekly Staff report

9:30-Eval meeting

9:50-Worship Leadership meeting

10:15-Service Brainstorming meeting

11:00-Staff Team building event (with LUNCH!)

1:30-Staff Meeting

2:00-Check email

2:15-Small clean up of Worship Center.

2:30-Meeting about upcoming drama for sermons and Summer sermon series.

3:00-Meet w/ Visual Artist about wall mosaic for current series.

3:15-Look for upcoming sermon series graphics.  Start on template.

4:15-Leave office

6:30-Watch kids at home so my wife, Sara, can attend Pastor’s Wives event.

9:00-Kids in bed and house cleaned up.  More work on Sermon Presentation Template.

9:30-Shut-down computer.

Tuesday

8:15-Roll into the office

8:20-Organize/print music, worship orders, lyric sheets and tech sheets for secretaries to print for Tuesday night rehearsal.

9:00-Create slides in WC and copy to FLC MAC.  Also create lighting presets in WC.

11:15-Meet w/ Office Manager to talk about printing new PUSH prayer bookmark.

11:30-Make lunch in kitchen and eat in my office.

12:00-Prep for Tuesday night’s devotional.

12:30-Make vocal notes for arrangement, harmony, solo singing, etc.

1:00-Fix ProPresenter computer program glitch. (Yes, it happens even on a MAC!)

1:30-Research videos for upcoming series.

1:45-Meet w/ Chris Kuntz about video needs.

1:55-Upload SFX MP3 for special music this week.

2:05-Check Twitter/email.

2:15-Respond to potential volunteers from our eConnect classes.

2:20-Work on Denominational Worship Leaders Summit coming up in May!

2:40-Leave office to pick up daughter at school.

6:00-Back at ECC for dinner w/ musicians and techies!

6:30-Lead devotional.

6:45-Dismiss everyone and reset for rehearsal.

6:50-Start soundcheck.

7:15-Start rehearsal.

9:00-Finish rehearsal and talk while cleaning up.

9:30-Head home!

Wednesday

8:20-Roll into office.

8:30-meet w/ contractor from ESCO to talk about upcoming video project.

8:45-Hand off to Chris and I go to talk to Anna Edgar about upcoming REACH service and meeting the needs of our missionary guest speaker.

9:00-Check email.

9:30-Find MP3 music for rehearsal Wednesday night.

9:40-make CD master to hand out and give to secretaries to make copies.

9:50-set up meeting w/ Pastor Denny to work through future expansion issues.

10:00-Call another upcoming guest speaker to arrange schedule, lodging, transportation, etc.

10:30-Find hotel room and book for the guest speaker.

11:15-Meet w/ Office staffer about PUSH prayer bookmark and overall communication.

11:45-Lunch w/ staff in kitchen.

12:30-work on new To-do program and update rotating reminders.

1:30-Review information for meeting on Thurs.

1:45-Work on Denominational Worship Leader Summit in May.

2:00-Finalize two possible presentation templates for upcoming sermon series.

2:30-Leave ECC

6:15-Back to ECC for Emmanuel Theatre Co. rehearsal.

6:30-Community time and prayer requests.

6:45-Rehearsal.

8:15-Head home.

Thursday (This is usually Friday, but my schedule got changed this week!)

8:25-Roll into office.

8:30-Check email.

8:50-Insert another slide onto MAC for REACH prayer time this weekend.

8:55-Touch base w/ Bible Study Fellowship women leaders about technology needs.

9:10-Write WorshipNotes.

10:00-Review and Sign Payment Authorization forms for rest of Worship Arts staff.  File my own bills.

11:00-Meet w/ Lead Pastor Denny Miller about upcoming tech needs.

1:00-head home for lunch.

2:00-Post and send WorshipNotes.

2:30-Shut computer.

Friday-Day off

Saturday

3:50PM-Roll into FLC for service.

4:00-start final rehearsal/soundcheck.

5:00-Open doors for service.

5:15-Talk through service w/ whole team and prayer.

5:27-Saturday 5:27 service.

6:30-Start shutting down.

6:50-Head home.

Sunday

6:30-AND THIS IS 6:30 AM!!  Roll into office.

6:35-Turn on equipment and set up.

7:15-Staff meeting/prayer.

7:30-Final rehearsal/soundcheck.

8:20-Soundcheck Speaker’s mic and check live video feed to FLC.

8:35-Listen to Chris Kuntz talk through service w/ tech team on COMM system.

8:45-Talk through service w/ Worship Center team and prayer.

9:00-Worship Center and FLC concurrent services.

10:30-Worship Center and FLC concurrent services.

11:40-Start clean up and equipment shut-down.

12:00-Head home.

Looking back over my week, there is a LOT of administration to keep everything going.  I see that I need to make more time to meet with people and learn about their lives and what God is doing outside of the office.  But I do hope and pray that whether it’s in the office or over lunch or singing during a weekend service that I am able to give glory to God and to help others worship.

Jesus in the Passover Changes Everything

This Sunday we begin Holy Week but this year we are going back to better understand God’s feast day of Passover and how it was fulfilled perfectly in Jesus.  I don’t want to steal any of Pastor Denny’s thunder about this, (Side note:  it’s not a good idea to steal your friend’s ideas and in my case it’s also bad for job security! :->) but I wanted to give a little bit of a preface to share why I’m excited about this upcoming week.

First, it’s important to remember that all the feast days have three meanings: a seasonal celebration, a historical remembrance and then a future meaning.

Seasonally, it’s about new life seen most easily in the season of spring as creation comes back to life.

Historically, it’s about the Israelites redemption from Egypt.

And it’s future meaning is us.  Believers from every nation redeemed from sin through the work of Jesus, the lamb of God.

So what am I so excited about?  Think about it.  Passover with this understanding changes everything.  EVERYTHING!  When the Israelites came out of Egypt it changed their status from slaves to free people.  It even changed their understanding of time.  Their New Year still starts with the month of Nisan because of Passover.  We are also changed and now new because of the fulfillment of Jesus as the lamb of God.  As Peter writes,

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. -1 Peter 1:18-19

We have salvation and have been brought into a new, free kingdom of God.  As Denny will point out, that means that all of us are now apart of the Jewish Jesus.  That has ramifications for us in terms of salvation, race, time and more.

Passover.  Jesus.  Change.  New life.  Freedom.  Everything is different.  Everything.

Creative Tension

cre·a·tive 

the ability or power to create

plus

ten·sion

 either of two balancing forces causing or tending to cause extension

equals

cre·a·tive  ten·sion

the ability of either of two balancing or extending forces to create

The ECC staff is gearing up for our yearly staff retreat.  And I can honestly tell you, it’s a blast.  What a great time of laughing together and getting past the daily routine.  It’s also a good time to plan and strategize together about ministry and how better to serve the kingdom as a team.  I am going with a wonderful sense of possibility for us and for the kingdom.  It’s going to be a great year of ministry together.

As I sit here now, the phrase that comes to mind is “creative tension”.  And that is a good thing!  I think we have great creative tension at ECC.  We have different people with different gifts and personalities and that enables us to excel in our area of ministry.  I don’t do what Bob Bruce does well.  And Bob Bruce doesn’t do what I am gifted to do.  Think about it, if everything and everyone was exactly the same, we wouldn’t grow.  But through creatively working through differences and giving up some of our personal desires we find something better.  Proverbs says it this way, “

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.(27:17)

This is worship in everyday life.  The way that we creatively find solutions to our differences honors God and creates something greater than when we started.  I can find a solution by myself, but if we work together as brothers and sisters in Christ to find an even better solution we create new possibilities through the power of the spirit.  David, the man after God’s heart, even wrote about creative tension.  “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1)  This isn’t something that just happens…unity is when different people work together to overcome and leverage those differences.

I’m still learning to live in creative tension, but am confident that God will continue to use us if we are open to our differences and his creative possibilities.

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Check out a few pics from the ECC Home Tours and the recap article on the UB Central website here: http://ubcentral.org/2012/01/06/christmas-at-our-church-fort-wayne-ind/

‘JOHN’ IS RIVETING!

On November 30th at 6PM, we are going to experience an amazing event in which the gospel of John will come to life on the stage right before our eyes.  I’m thrilled to have professional actor, Brad Sherrill come and perform.  It has been performed over 600 times in theaters, churches and cathedrals from the U.S. to Canada to the U.K.  But don’t just  take my word for it.  Here is a review from Kathy Janich…

“The Gospel of John” is an amazing achievement.

That needs to be said again. “The Gospel of John” is an amazing achievement.

Atlanta actor Brad Sherrill, who created and performs this original piece, has taken the words of the New Testa­ment’s fourth book and, with his voice, his imag­ination and a few props, shaped it into a transforming two hours of theater.

Leaping angrily and overturning furniture, he becomes an enraged Jesus Christ chasing buyers and sellers from his Father’s House.

Sleepy, reluctant and fearful, he becomes Pontius Pilate, the official who would send Jesus to his death.

Cowering and sheepish, he’s the disciple Simon Peter denying his alliance with Jesus at the hour his devotion is most critical.

Sherrill inhabits them all, and many more. And he’s wonderful to see.

His piece is as inventive as it is athletic. Watch him splash water on the stage floor to simulate rough seas. Or turn a rough-hewn rectangular table on its edge to create Lazarus’ tomb. Follow him as he cuts through the space and moves about the audience, touching hands here and shoulders there, spreading  Jesus’ message of love and inclusion.

In short, Sherrill entertains and cajoles, moves us and mesmerizes us. “John” is undoubtedly among the best work he’s ever done. You can tell that it enthralls him as an actor. Just as clear is that it fascinates him as a man. This role, with its 20,000 words and myriad personae, allows him…no, commands him to tap into every resource he has!

The overriding question here is whether the word of God can work as drama. Sherrill proves that it most certainly and successfully can. You need only watch him as John the Bap­tist, testifying to his first sighting of Jesus Christ, to become a believer. And this moment comes less than 10 minutes into the show.

Simple, powerful, provocative. If they’d taught the gospel like this in Catholic school, I might have paid attention. And that is a high compliment, indeed!

You do not want to miss this once in a lifetime event.  This is a chance to see the words of the Bible leap off the page and come to life right in front of you.  Tickets are $2.  If you want to see a low-grade video of Brad in action, his website is here.  I hope to see you on November 30th at 6PM in the ECC Worship Center for an amazing performance.

ECC HOME TOUR LOCATIONS ANNOUNCED!

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the upcoming ECC HOME TOURS that will be coming to the Fort Wayne area this Advent season.  As I wrote before,

We want to break down the 4th wall that stands between people on stage and people in the seats.

We want to build community in new ways.

We want to celebrate Jesus coming to be with us by celebrating where we normally live…in homes!

This whole thing started years ago while I was growing up in the hills of PA.  Back then, our good family friends, Art and Coby Bowers, would invite our family over for a sing-a-long.  Art and Coby were 1st generation immigrants from Holland.  They placed a high value on being together and making music as believers and families.  They would call up and tell my dad, Paul, to bring the family and DON’T FORGET YOUR GUITAR SO WE CAN SING!  We would pile into the station wagon and enjoy a night of laughing, eating and singing together.

I envision this is how believers did it 50-100 years ago when it was normal for people to gather on a Wednesday or Sunday night for a “hymn-sing”.  The goal wasn’t to hear people sing at you, but for everyone to come together and create memories through music and our goal is the same:  connecting with people through music, FOOD and stories in an informal way.  That’s the same thing we want to do for Christmas this year at ECC!

And now for the big reveal…this Sunday we will be announcing this event to the whole church along with these locations.  And you, faithful reader, will get a chance to see them first!  As you can see, while the event will basically be the same, the people, dates and places will change…

Sunday, Nov 27th @ 6:30PM

•  Yoder’s house in Fort Wayne

• Keplar’s cabin in Ossian

Friday, Dec 2nd @ 6:30PM

• Emerick’s barn in Columbia City

Saturday, Dec 10th @ 6:30PM

•  Blackburn’s house in Fort Wayne

Saturday, Dec 10th @ 6:30PM

• Quilhot’s house in Roanoke

Sunday, Dec 11th @ 6:30PM

• Quilhot’s house in Roanoke

• Emerick’s barn in Columbia City 

Friday, Dec 16th @ 6:30PM

• Quilhot’s house in Roanoke

Saturday, Dec 17th @ 6:30PM

• Ingle’s house in Huntington

If you think about it, Jesus wasn’t born in a palace or a temple or a church.  He was born in a stable.  His name is Emmanuel.  God with us.  By creating this home tour, we hope to bring people together and experience community and God with us.  You can sign up this weekend using the envelope in the bulletin.  I can’t wait to see you there.

The Times They Are A’Change’in

Things change. That’s true in life as well as at Emmanuel.  And that’s a good thing…change, I mean.  Just think, if change wasn’t possible we would still be sinners with an unchangeable eternity.  So change is good.  And if nothing else, working at ECC is never boring!

Now as most of you know, we are making a big change with our services.  As of Nov 5th we will have two services in the Worship Center and FLC at 9 and 10:30am.  Pastor Denny has already explained the logistics and how we envision the change will play out with the children (new programming is Sat night!) and students (attendance with the whole family and more opportunities for service.  I think the change is a great idea for many reasons.  I am excited that volunteers will have a shorter time commitment on Sunday morning for one!  But there is an even bigger reason to be excited about this change…there is potential for even more people to hear God’s word!   So there will be changing ministries, changing staff descriptions and the ever-changing Emmanuel Community Church.  But more than that, this change represents changed lives.

We believe strongly in the power of the arts to touch the human soul.  Because of that, we view the 30-35 minutes before the sermon as a treasure to “preach the word with many voices”.  What takes place in that 1/2 hour can count for eternity.  When music, drama and tech are all working together, along with solid teaching – watch out!  God can unleash His power in amazing ways.

Why God has blessed us is a mystery to us, but we are growing as a church.  Our intention is simply to continue being faithful to His Word and Our Walk…and so, in the end, to bring all glory to God as we lead others in worship.

What is Playback Theatre?

Its been awhile since the Emmanuel Theatre Co. has done Playback.  I found it to be an amazing way to draw out stories of faith from our community and allow all of us to become apart of of what God has done and continues to do.  Here is a basic video synopsis for the curious…ETC, we need to do this again!

What Do Different Church Traditions Think about Worship?

Have you ever wondered why ECC worships the way it does?  Or have you wondered why different churches worship the way they do?  These were compiled by the late Robert Webber of IWS fame and WorshipTraining.com. (Ancient-Future Worship)

Approaches To The Theology Of Worship | WorshipTraining

Theology is a reflective discipline. That is, people who do theology reflect on the truth of Scripture and the insights of the church in a systematic way. Systematic reflection on worship results in a theology, or rather, theologies of worship. In this section, theologians of various Christian traditions reflect on their worship and attempt to articulate the words and actions of this worship in a systematic form. Interpreters bring their own experience to the subject they interpret. One who constructs a theology of worship is not exempt from this hermeneutical method. Personal perspectives can often illuminate the broad and varied patterns of Christian worship. This section offers three views on the theology of worship: a liturgical approach, a free-church perspective, and a charismatic interpretation.

Liturgical Worship Approach: Enactment Of Salvation History

For those who approach worship from a liturgical and sacramental point of view, Christian worship is an action which recalls the events of the history of salvation. This recollection, which is based on biblical models of worship, is not simply an intellectual remembering; it becomes an actual participation in the saving event through forms of worship empowered by the Holy Spirit and received in faith.

Free-Church Worship Approach (ECC): Ascribing Worth To God

Free-church worship occupies a middle position between the liturgical/sacramental forms of worship and the informal worship of many charismatic churches. Whereas free churches may follow a formal order of service, their worship does not conform to historic Eucharist-centered liturgies. This worship has three objectives: to speak to God, to listen to God, and to respond to God—a sequence based on the ancient biblical structure of proclamation and response. This style of worship is found in evangelical and fundamental churches as well as in many mainline Protestant congregations.

Worship is the ascription of worth to God for who he is and what he does—just as the psalmist expresses it:

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.  Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. (Psalm 96:7–8)

Charismatic Worship Approach: Responding To The Spirit

Worship, for Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, is an expression of the experience and empowerment of the Holy Spirit—an event which for many brings the Scriptures to life and continuously incarnates Jesus Christ in his church. The release of a life of praise, of intercession, and of spiritual gifts for ministry takes place in the setting of the body of Christ at worship.  Although tongues and interpretation are an important manifestation of the Spirit in the worship of Pentecostals, emphasis is also placed broadly on others gifts of the Spirit, including those of healing and prophecy.

And for a brief overview of theologies…

Reformed worship focuses on the majesty of God’s transcendence and the frailty and sinfulness of humans. Reformed worship captures, proclaims, and enacts the gospel.

Lutheran worship calls people to faith again and again through the proclamation of the Gospel through Word and Table. In this service, God acts and the people respond. In form, Lutheran worship is both evangelical and Catholic.

Baptist worship seeks to develop a worship rooted in Scripture, it is more inclined to rely on general principles for guiding worship rather than on literalist model of worship based on Scripture texts alone.

Anabaptists see the church as a radical body of believing disciples. Worship arises out of this community of faith and is simple and egalitarian. It recounts God’s story of redeeming love through the ongoing experience of the community of faith.

Wesleyans are deeply concerned to define worship as more than public acts. Worship has to do with all of life, with relationships, and with vocations. In deed and thought believers continually act out their relationship to Christ.

The Christmas Home Tour @ECC

I wanted to give you a heads up about what I’m thinking!  This year we are going to be launching a Christmas Home Tour with the goal to take our “Christmas Production” out of the church and into home environments.

We want to break down the 4th wall that stands between people on stage and people in the seats.

We want to build community in new ways.

We want to celebrate Jesus coming to be with us by celebrating where we normally live…in homes!

This started years ago while I was growing up in the hills of PA.  Back then, our good family friends, Art and Coby Bowers, would invite our family over for a sing-a-long.  Art and Coby were 1st generation immigrants from Holland.  They placed a high value on being together and making music as believers and families.  They would call up and tell my dad, Paul, to bring the family and DON’T FORGET YOUR GUITAR SO WE CAN SING!  We would pile into the station wagon and enjoy a night of laughing, eating and singing together.

I envision this is how believers did it 50-100 years ago when it was normal for people to gather on a Wednesday or Sunday night for a “hymn-sing”.  The goal wasn’t to hear people sing at you, but for everyone to come together and create worship through music.  These days, artists like Derek Webb of Cademon’s Call, Sandra McCracken, BiFrost Arts Ministry and Eric Peters are creating these types of events all over the country.  They call them “house-concerts” or “living-room shows”…whatever they call it the concept…and goal is the same:  connecting with people through music and stories in an informal way.  That’s the same thing we want to do for Christmas this year at ECC!

If you think about it, Jesus wasn’t born in a palace or a temple or a church.  He was born in a stable.  His name is Emmanuel.  By creating this home tour, we hope to bring people together and experience community and God with us.