The Summit that was…

The engines are warming up and they are closing the doors of the plane as we wait to take off from Daytona Beach, Florida. The past four days were full of fun, laughter, deep conversations, body surfing, eating, praying, singing, taking communion, recording in a studio and more eating…

Yesterday, we had up second full day together and after a breakfast at the classic, 50′s style Starlight Diner, headed off with headphones to listen to a talk about worship from Matt Chandler. He didn’t mess around,but taught from John 4. He warned that there are three empty wells that we try to draw water from that block true worship…

1. Money and comfort…how about technology? For those of us in worship, this is a real issue. Have you seen a techie with the latest iPad? How about a guitarist with a a new guitar pedal? As Chandler says, You might as well call it “Guitar pedal porn”!  Or to paraphrase Solomon, “Glamor, glamor, all is glamor!!!!”

2. Relationships and sex…We tend to want what we dont have and the problem is that we turn our idealized view of the opposite sex into our God. My wife could come to the door with hardly anything on and a platter of steak and seafood every day and the last super hero movie in the DVD player…and the crazy thing is that after a few weeks I would start dreaming about a salad and a ballet! That just how we are as sinful people!

3. Success and respect…we want to be seen as all that! We see other people leading and we think, “I’m better than that”. I’ve realized for myself that I need to be careful when it comes to giving criticism.  You might think its just a pursuit of excellence, but we need to make sure we have good motives when we critique….it can be, can be a symptom of jealousy.  We need to keep asking this question all the time: are my motives pure?

Chandler closed with this killer idea…we should worship with an informed mind and an enflamed heart. Yes!

The rest of the day was filled with a Skype call from our UB Bishop, body surfing, tech conversations, food and a time of communion. I need to write another’s whole post on how we do communion at the worship summit because it’s become a tradition.  For now, suffice it to say that we followed a liturgical model with readings and the Lords Prayer. We also served each other with a time of personal encouragement/blessing.  This was an amazing chance for us to speak God’s truth into each others lives. Even in a short time together you get a chance to sense who a person is and affirm the way God is working. Powerful. Gods words of blessing through his people and Gods gift of bread and wine to remember his death and coming…I’m already looking forward to 2014!

UB Worship Summit 1: breakfast, silence and beauty

The alarm said 6:10AM and I was awake.

Today is the first day of our Worship summit and after some reading and a run on the beach, we met at the Starlight dinner and ate some breakfast complete with a 80s music soundtrack playing in the background. The quote from the morning was from Jonathan Ford…”Hash is my jam!”…and yeah, I don’t know what that means either but we are all worship guys here so it’s ok!

Then we crashed in a room together to meet each other officially and then launch into a time of contemplation. It might sound counter intuitive but we wanted to center on God and his presence in use to et th tone for the whole summit. Jonathan encouraged us to take just 8 min and listen…just listen…

…but the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a contrite heart…

We moved onto a conversation about beauty vs glamor. As worship leaders, it’s our job to make noise and use lights and drama and cameras with the goal of glorifying God and helping others worship. The question was “have we lost our value of beauty for glamor?”. Or maybe the modern way to State the issue is this: “Have we traded the rock star image for beauty?”. We wrestled with this in the context of our churches. We realized that we do sometimes pursue glamor but Gods spirit still moves. We talked about it in context of the service at Northland we attended last night too. There were more lights in their children’s ministry than there are in our whole church, but there was beauty. Afterwards we had a great impromptu tour and met beautiful people. We also heard beauty from three great hymns of the faith and quotes from Dietrich Bonhoffer and a song from Sara Groves. We started using the phrase “worship curator” to help us get past the rock star image and help us better understand our role. We are to look for, identify, protect, organize and present art that points to the One who created beauty.

The closing thought for me was from Mark Young…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.–Phillipians 4:8

UB worship summit at Northland

We kicked off the UB worship summit ’12 with a trip to Northland Community Church outside Daytona Beach. It’s a very generous place that tries to combine an ancient/future concept of worship by being true to our Christian past in content but using the latest technology to do so.

The worship focus for the night was this:

Worship Christ today as our sacrifice. He endured th cross to pay our debt of sin, to reconcile us to God. He himself is our peace.

They called the people of God to worship and thanked us for bringing the church into the building because the church is us not the building. They then launched into three hymns ending with “Jesus paid it all”.

It was good to worship together and as one guy said, ” it was a transcendent moment”. Afterwards, we were hanging out and trying to see as much as we could and ran into the head media guy named Sean. He gave us a private tour and we were all able to ask questions. It was amazing and a great way to kick off the summit. Looking forward to the rest of the week!

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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/

Alligators Love Michigan Church

After posting about my college roomie, I thought it only fair to also post about another good friend from college who serves at the UB Pathway church in Michigan.  Somehow, and this sounds crazy, a gator showed up on their soccer field and Brent was there to capture it all on video.  It caused such a stir that the Huffington Post even picked it up!

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.

What does “Reformed” mean?

Hi, my name is Sam and I grew up Reformed.

Now the proper response is “Hi, Sam” because the first step in the twelve step process is admitting your background.  And by the way, this is a safe place right?  Actually, I did grow up Reformed and I’m fine with that.  In fact, I am so glad that I was given a solid foundation of bible teaching and theology that has given me a way to handle really hard times in my life.  I not only believe, but have come to know though suffering that God is loving and He has a plan for all people.

All that to say, I really appreciated this recent article from the Resurgance blog about what it means to be Reformed.  The author points out  that many times claiming the “Reformed” label can be an indicator of something else going on.  He writes,

My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them? Do you admire them? Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them? What is the emotional tilt of your heart—toward them or away from them?

The is refreshing for me.  I’ve heard people use the phrase, “They are really ‘reformed’”.  What does that mean exactly?  Here, the author goes on to identify what he calls “Galatian sociology” in that we tend to want to add things to the gospel.  He continues,

Whatever divides us emotionally from other Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians is a “plus” we’re adding to the gospel. It is the Galatian impulse of self-exaltation. It can even become a club with which we bash other Christians, at least in our thoughts, to punish, to exclude and to force into line with us.

Ouch.  That is cutting pretty close there, but is a good call to keep reforming ourselves to be like Christ and to not add to the gospel.  He finishes with this…

If your Reformed theology has morphed functionally into Galatian sociology, the remedy is not to abandon your Reformed theology. The remedy is to take your Reformed theology to a deeper level. Let it reduce you to Jesus only. Let it humble you. Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around. The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed. Amazing people. Heroic people. Blood-bought people. People with whom we are eternally one—in Christ alone.

Well said and good for me to hear too.  This is what Josh Harris calls “humble orthodoxy”.

My name is Sam if that is what Reformed is…I am still Reformed.

The Best Tweets from #ubworship summit 2010

Do you send out tweets into the the twitterverse and wonder if anyone ever sees them? Well, I wondered that and thought that I would include them here so that you could see them for yourself. Here is the best of our tweets from the UB Worship Summit 2010!

eccsam FW:Closing with communion at #ubworship http://twitpic.com/1lenmc 1 day ago from Twitpic
eccdan Finished #ubworship Summit with a time of Holy Communion and shared blessings. Beautiful! 1 day ago from Echofon

jauthen Another great meal tonight our last night here #ubworship 1 day ago from txt

eccsam White/black thats united in christ! http://twitpic.com/1lbqqs 3:31 PM May 5th via Twitpic

eccsam Touring Sound Minds studio @ #ubworship http://twitpic.com/1lbcde 2:30 PM May 5th via Twitpic

eccdan Excellent summit! at #ubworship Great discussions and challenges 1 day ago from Echofon

eccsam Touring Sound Minds studio @ #ubworship http://twitpic.com/1lbcde 1 day ago from Twitpic

eccsam #ubworship summit 2010 crew http://twitpic.com/1lb30p 1 day ago from Twitpic

eccsam Just had a man from Hollyhills UB bring package. We prayed/layed hands for his ministry at this resort! 12:16 PM May 5th via txt

eccdan What is my 3′ wall that keeps me from going further with the gifts God has given me? Remember the Impala #ubworship 1 day ago from Echofon

eccdan The arts help us to explore who God is. He gave us these artistic gifts within us to proclaim His Reconciliation!! #ubworship 1 day ago from Echofon

eccdan The arts in the church – All the arts explore expound express God’s boundless love. Music dance spoken word painting sculpting. #ubworship 1 day ago from Echofon

eccdan We need drama! passion! in our worship #ubworship 1 day ago from Echofon

eccdan My gifts express God’s love in and upon me. #ubworship 1 day ago from Echofon

eccdan We are God’s Beloved! This should pour out of me thru my artistic gifts. #ubworship 1 day ago from Echofon

eccdan Efrem Smith @ #ubworship 1 John 3. The wonder of beloved worship 1 day ago from Echofon

eccdan Looking forward to Efrem @ #ubworship 2 days ago from Echofon

Chriskuntz RT @jauthen: Great dinner tonight at Bubba Gump’s with a great group of friends #ubworship 2 days ago from web

eccsam @ Johnny Rockets and dancing #ubworship http://twitpic.com/1l0a47 2 days ago from TwitPic

eccsam We laughed, we cried at #ubworship it was beautiful :-> 2 days ago from txt

eccdan Jesus EAGERLY desires to eat the Passover meal with us! #ubworship 2 days ago from Echofon

eccdan #ubworship the body in unity sharing Communion is our barbque 2 days ago from Echofon

eccdan In reference to sacrifice in worship – “We’ve lost the Bar-B-Q in worship!!” Dr Phil B. #ubworship 2 days ago from Echofon

Chriskuntz Loving the tweets, guys. Praying for a inspiring time for you #ubworship 2 days ago from web

eccdan “Does God get good verbs in our worship?!” – Dr. Phil B. #ubworship 2 days ago from Echofon

eccdan “Theology teaches us that Jesus is better than music” Music didn’t die for my sins – Jesus did! Christ gives me REAL hope #ubworship 2 days ago from Echofon

eccdan #ubworship being moved emotionally by music is different than being stirred by God’s Spirit and changed thru His Word. “Truth outlasts Tunes! 2 days ago from Echofon

eccdan #ubworship. God reveals himself Thru words not music 2 days ago from Echofon

eccdan Good theology books. #ubworship Learn from others! Knowledge of the Holy- Tozer 2 days ago from Echofon

eccdan Book “The Courage to be Protestant” David Wells #ubworship 2 days ago from Echofon

eccdan What complicates life is not theology – it’s ignorance of theology”. – Kauflin #ubworship 2 days ago from Echofon

eccsam Finally starting keynote w/ kauflin after dvd problems #ubworship 2 days ago from txt

eccdan #ubworship Bob Kauflin. Why theology matters – it’s RELEVANT! We need to have good theology as Christian musicians 2 days ago from Echofon

ubicpastormatt #ubworship Loving the summit!!! Great Devo on God’s glory. Let your glory fill the earth! 2 days ago from Twitterrific

eccdan #ubworship Morning devo on God’s glory from Isaiah. “May the whole earth be filled!” 3 days ago from Echofon

eccdan Breakfast at iHop. @ #ubworship It’s gotta be an American tradition 3 days ago from Echofon

eccsam @Northland worshipping w/ #ubworship http://twitpic.com/1krozi 3 days ago from TwitPic

Hope that gives you a glimpse into the Worship Summit and what amazing things God did in and through us.  I know I came back with a real sense of being UNITED IN CHRIST and inspired to continue the ministry here as apart of the larger body.  Glory to God.