August 09, 2006
Pentecostals and Charismatic Bloggers Join in the Dialogue
It seems my article on TheOoze.com, "On Being Pentecostal in the Emerging Church," has resonated with a lot of folks out there who seem to be thinking much the same things regarding Charismaticism/Pentecostalism and its role in the emerging church. A few bloggers I have since had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with have linked to it and have begun joining in the discussion, such as Bradandgio, Amy Maxwell, Israel ("Where's My Stapler" - pray for his father who's on his near-death bed), Darrell Pursiful, and Singing Owl. Check out their further discussions on the subject.
Also, my way-smarter-than-me fellow Pentecostal/Charismatic friend, Earl Creps, posted a link to the article and has chimed in on charismaticism's role in the EmChurch. Creps' new book, "Off-Road Disciplines" hits bookshelves this fall from Josey-Bass. I'll be interested in reading it.
Thank you to those who have linked to my article and who have joined in the discussion. I think it will help many out there who may be feeling the same way.
22:00 Posted in Emerging Church, Worship | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this | Tags: Pentecostalism, Charismaticism, emerging church, Emergent
May 11, 2006
The Green Room: LIGHT
If you live in the Springfield, Missouri area, join us for an authentic, organic, and missional alternative worship experience. Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at Schweitzer United Methodist Church at seven pm.
Technorati Tags: alternative-worship, The-Green-Room, emerging-church, blogosphere
22:46 Posted in alt.Worship, Emerging Church, Worship | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: Christian
March 16, 2006
New Song: You Are Still God
My brother Matt actually wrote the main part of this song and had a friend of ours help him with the lyrics. I loosely added a few lines, but most of the credit must go to Matt Thompson. He brought it up on his last visit and we recorded a simple demo version of it. I was just blown away by the sensitivity of the lyrics and the musical progression. It's a beautiful melody on an acoustic guitar. Matt played the acoustic guitar and I added a piano and the vocal to it. (I had only learned all of the lyrics five minutes earlier so excuse the raw quality here.)
Music by Matt Thompson, Lyrics by Matt Thompson, Chris Brannon, and Bryan Thompson
©2006 Matt Thompson, Chris Brannon, Bryan Thompson/Direct North Music
Me - Vocals and piano
Matt - Acoustic guitar
Technorati Tags:: music, worship, blogosphere
13:03 Posted in Music, Worship | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: Christian
September 15, 2005
Worship and Performance
A small church contacted me a few weeks ago about leading worship for a Sunday morning service. I told them I would be happy to help and asked the Senior Pastor what kinds of songs I should do? He told me the church was used to more contemporary songs and it was okay for me to lead those. Then, I guess realizing what kind of style I had, he added as an immediate afterthought, "Just remember to lead them in worship, you're not 'performing'."
It sounded almost like an insult the way he said that. I remembered hearing those words before. Several years ago, I had signed onto this small church in Florida as a youth pastor, and part of my job (The Senior Pastor and I were the only two pastors on staff) was leading worship on Sunday mornings. Having been a worship leader for years, I love this. I absolutely love playing and singing to God, and inviting others to join me in that experience. I was getting the music together that first Sunday in this small church, practicing with the band, and the Senior Pastor stopped the practice, saying, "It sounds like you're performing. You need to lead the church in worship." Even then, that didn't quite register.
After years...and weeks, I've finally realized that I absolutely one-hundred percent disagree with those two pastors. It's taken me five years to realize it with the one church, and only a couple of weeks with the latest one.
On one point, and I think it is the one they were actually trying to make, I do agree with them - leading worship is certainly not about "being recognized" by other people. It's not about looking good and sounding like rock stars to woo humanity. But, I think the word "performance" is a strong word and should not be used in this context.
And while leading worship certainly involves inviting others to join with you in offering God our praise and honor, the concept of worship really has nothing to do with that. While it is beautiful (and sacred, I might add) when two or more come together to sing praise to God, the concept of worship is simply this: offering all that we have to the infinite God. Giving God our best (and not just in song, but in life) as we honor God.
As we think about that loosely defined word, I think this makes the word "performance" so much more important. When those pastors told me they didn't want me to perform, they were essentially saying, "We don't want you to concentrate on making this sound good. We just want you to be annointed."
And that brings me to this: What is annointing? I believe it roughly means to have God's infinite presence in the midst of finite humanity. The immortal amongst the mortal. The extraordinary among the ordinary. The perfect among the flawed. Think about that image for a moment. Just think about that.
The infinite, immortal, extraordinary, perfect presence of God dwelling with finite, mortal, ordinary, and flawed people. When we see God in this light, I think it brings a whole new meaning to the word "performance." Suddenly, now more than ever, I want to give my absolute best performance (although my best is still unbelievably flawed) to this beautiful God because he simply chooses to dwell with me. And although my job is not to simply entertain people (although there is a missional calling to be relevant and enticing to those in the world - I'll deal with this subject later) - and people are often entertained in worship - it becomes a burning sensation to give it my best shot so that I do entertain the One I've come to see.
That is the power of worship. That is the absolute importance of performance. Yes, it's not about others, but it is about quality. It is about the perfect quality of our words and our songs and our lives coming together and hearts beating as one as we worship the God of the Cosmos.
What is worship and performance? How do those two worlds collide? And what is the beauty that shines when they do? These are the questions of life. And that is why I will always perform.
08:56 Posted in Worship | Permalink | Comments (7) | Email this