New Worship Song – 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

Posted by David Lindner on May 4, 2012 in Blog, Headline, New worship songs, Worship | 0 comments

This weekend we will be doing a new worship song. It’s by Matt Redman, and I’m sure it’s going to be one many of us love! Here’s a link to a You Tube Video of it. Take a minute to listen to it, that way you can sing it out this weekend!

Volunteer Appreciation Dinner – May 22nd – 6:30 – 8:00pm

Posted by David Lindner on May 2, 2012 in Blog, Headline, Meetings, Worship | 0 comments

We appreciate you SO much! And we want to show you! So, on May 22nd from 6:30 – 8:00pm, we would love to have you join us in the Multi-purpose room for a celebration in YOUR honor! We hope this evening will be a wonderful celebration of how God has used your service and the service of so many others at our church to do His work in Clark County.

Please RSVP to JenniferGilroy@vanfcog.org before May 11. If you will be needing childcare, please let us know that in your RSVP as well. Hope to see you there!!!

Worship Choir

Posted by David Lindner on Apr 24, 2012 in Sanctuary Choir, Worship Choir | 0 comments

On Thursday evening, April 26th, we have our first worship choir rehearsal!!!

The purpose of this choir is to function as a large worship team that leads our congregation in worship. The difference is not huge. All church choirs have the goal of leading the congregation in worship. However, traditionally choirs have led in a performance oriented way. The worship Choir will not be doing performance numbers regularly, though from time to time we might include one. Rather, the worship choir will be focused on leading the congregation worship.

While we will be working from music, reading music is not a requirement. We will work on the parts in the rehearsal, and there will also be parts recordings available online through Planning Center. We will also have time for prayer and worship. I believe it’s important for us to worship if we’re going to lead in worship. We as worship leaders need to model the different forms of worship we see in scripture.

We will meet in the High School choir room, which is downstairs in the east wing of the CLC, and we will meet for an hour, from 6:00 – 7:00pm.

So, I really hope you will join us this Thursday evening!

Potential

Posted by David Lindner on Apr 17, 2012 in Blog, Headline, Worship | 1 comment

Tonight, for the opening session of the retreat at Cannon Beach Conference Center, Dr. Rod Stafford shared a synopsis of “The Princess and the Goblin.” The basic premise of the story is that a grandmother tells her granddaughter to follow a thread wherever it leads. At the end, she the thread will lead to grandma. It may not seem like the path makes sense, but there are reasons, so keep following the thread.

Then I started thinking about us as a Worship Arts Ministry. We’re following a thread. And I’m sure, to some of you it feels like the path might not make sense. But I have faith in the direction God is taking us.

At the end of our thread is a Worship Arts Ministry that truly honors God in as many creative forms as we can imagine. Much more than we currently use. I’ve said before, but I believe God gave us creativity for a reason, He wants us to use it to create things and give Him the glory for it. It’s in creating that we show how we and we alone are made in the image of our maker.

I know right now, to some of you, it seems like things are just spinning on in the same direction they have been going. But God is giving us a thread, and we’re starting to pursue it.

You see, when I look at us, I see potential. Sure there will be pot holes and collapsed bridges along the way that will force us to come up with new ways and directions, but there is a mountain of potential in our Worship Arts Ministry.

That’s not to say that great things haven’t happened in the past. They have, and I’m thankful for them. But I also don’t believe that our best years are behind us. I believe that God has something amazing and inexplicable for us in the months and years to come, something that we won’t be able to take credit for because it’s simply too amazing.

I hope you will continue to walk with me as we follow this thread. It is leading us somewhere, ultimately to a closer relationship with God Himself, which is what God wants for us all!

Wherever we may find ourselves right now, at this very moment in time, let’s commit ourselves to following the thread that God has for us! Let’s look forward to what God is going to do! Let’s not just remember what He has done, let’s look ahead! Yes, let’s build on the foundation already laid, but let’s be open to the new frontiers God has for us! Let’s follow the thread!

Press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me

Posted by David Lindner on Apr 2, 2012 in Blog, Devotional Thoughts, Easter, Worship | 0 comments

As some of you know, Philippians is my favorite book of the Bible. In large part, because of the first 11 verses of the second chapter. However, another chunk of my favorite scripture is in the third chapter.

⁷ But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing on Toward the Goal

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Read the whole chapter here.)

There are so many great lines in there. “Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss.” “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of know Christ Jesus my Lord.” “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” “I press on toward the goal to win the prize.”

But the one that takes the cake for me is “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Part of the reason I love this verse is that there is mystery in it. If you look through many of the different translations, you will see that there isn’t exactly a unanimous interpretation.

But to me, the idea is that we are pressing on, striving and reaching out for the life that Christ Jesus had in mind for us when he died for us. The life that is based on sacrificing ourselves and sharing in His sufferings. Christ Jesus took hold of me for Him. Christ Jesus went through everything he did so that we could be His. He went through everything He did so that there would be nothing between Him and us.

So, we press on toward Christ. We press on to take hold of Christ.

Today begins the week that Christ endured so that we could receive the prize. Think about that. Everything Christ went through wasn’t for His benefit. God doesn’t need anything. God doesn’t need redemption. We did. We do. And yet, Christ was arrested, beaten, tortured, poked and prodded, pierced, forced to carry a cross, nailed to the cross, abandoned and died so that we could get the prize.

So we press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

All of our efforts in the week to come are not only for us as we pursue Christ. Our efforts this week are also for those who still don’t know that there is a prize to pursue.

This week, we press on to lead others to the prize of Jesus. This week, we pray for those who need to hear the message for the first time. We pray for those who have heard but never received. Think of how great it will be, when at the end of this week, we hear stories about those who made a step or even reached out and took hold of that prize!

We Is Greater Than I

Posted by David Lindner on Mar 7, 2012 in Blog, Headline, Values, Worship | 0 comments

Standard Podcast [ 5:42 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Yesterday, I asked some questions about how we as a Worship Arts Ministry know if we’re winning or losing. It’s been great to hear some of your feedback on facebook about how we can know if we are winning and I’d like to invite you to go over to our group and join the discussion.

One of my highest priorities for us as a worship ministry is the power of the team. In fact, it’s so important to me, that it’s going to be our logo, our identifier. This is something I firmly believe. ‘We’ are greater than any ‘I’ could be.

The idea of “greater than” is an idea that pertains particularly well to worship. Ultimately, we worship because He is greater than we are. We worship because we want to make more of Jesus and less of us. We want Jesus to become greater and ourselves to become less.

The idea of “we” is also quite pertinent. Even in our private worship, we use tools that required a “we”. We might sing a worship song that was written by someone else, taught to us by someone else. We might read out of the scriptures which is quite a depiction of “we” considering all the authors who were used by God to share His message with us. Even when we pray in private, we pray like those who taught us to pray.

“We” is also at the foundation of the church. We are the body. We. Not they. Not me. We. Together we make up the body of Christ. Together we comprise the body. Individually we are a part. But, individually we are not the whole.

We live in an ever-increasing “me” society. Everything can be customized exactly how we want it. Marketers are increasingly trying to get us to do things because we deserve it. We are living less and less in community and more and more in isolation. Being the body is now the exception instead of the rule. Being the body is something we do a few hours a week instead of who we are all the time. We approach everything, including church and the ministries of the church like Worship Arts with an attitude of what we can get out of it. We ask, how does this ministry make me happy and what do you have to offer me instead of serving Christ and serving one another in love.

I want us to be the anomaly. I want our Worship Arts Ministry to stand out among all others. Not for the same reasons most Worship Pastors want their ministries to stand out. I’m not worried about beating the other churches. In fact, if you know much about me, you know that I’ve committed quite a bit of my life as a Worship Pastor, to helping other Worship Pastors lead their ministries the best they can. I’m not worried about our worship being better than New Heights or Crossroads or Living Hope. Those aren’t the things about our Worship Arts Ministry that keep me up at night.

I want us to stand out because we are such a team that people just have to be involved. Because we are so much more concerned with others than ourselves that we selflessly serve by nature not by force. I want us to stand out for our humility in leading worship. I want us to stand out for our humility in serving our body and each other. I want us to be the ministry that is like minded, who has the same love, who are one in spirit and purpose. I want us to be known because selfish ambition doesn’t drive us neither does vain conceit, but humility. I want us to be known because we consider others better than ourselves and that we are more concerned with the interests of others.

I want us to stand out because our attitude is the same as that of Christ Jesus, who had every reason to boast and brag, and yet He humbled Himself and died the most embarrassing and painful death for us.

I believe that when we act this way, it will change the way we do ministry. We won’t fight for our own preferences and styles anymore. We won’t come to rehearsals unprepared because we don’t want to let the others on the team down. We won’t talk about the others on the team behind their back because we recognize that we are all on a journey and none of us have arrived.

Will you join me on this journey? Will you dare to change the status quo of Worship Arts Ministry? Will you join me as we move away from doing things to get attention for ourselves and begin doing things that point people to Christ? I believe we can. I believe we can be the most diverse and still the most unified worship arts ministry. I believe we can be a group of people who loves each other so much that others want to join us because they want to be a part of a team that truly cares about them. I believe that we can move into uncharted waters and truly tap into the creativity and ingenuity that our creator has endowed us with.

Let’s turn over a new leaf and create the future God wants for our Worship Arts Ministry!

Clarify the Win

Posted by David Lindner on Mar 6, 2012 in Blog, Headline, Values, Worship | 0 comments

The definition of win: “to finish first in a race, contest, or the like.” When you’re running a race, it’s easy to know if you’ve won or lost. If you were the first to cross the finish line, you won. If someone else beat you there, you lost.

The same principle doesn’t as easily apply to Worship Arts Ministry.

The first person the finish the song wins? The person to sing the loudest wins? The first person to arrive to rehearsal wins? The last person to leave rehearsal? These just aren’t legit ways to measure success of a worship arts ministry. (And no, drinking tiger blood isn’t going to help either)

So then how do we know if we’re winning? There are a few tangible things we can measure that can help us gauge our progress. For instance, if there is a constant influx of new people into a ministry, that’s a good sign that we are winning in that area. If we’re constantly struggling to find the necessary people, that would be a sign that we’re not winning.

However, a lot of our measurement has to come from subjective means. It may seem that we could judge the response of the congregation, rate it and compare it to other weeks and begin to gain a sense of whether we’re winning or not. But not everyone worships in the same way, especially when you take into account a vast differentiation between worship styles and generations. But, if a once responsive congregation goes unresponsive, then we can know something from that. If a once unresponsive congregation suddenly responds in an obvious way, we know we’ve done something to connect.

There are some other ways that I measure whether we’re winning or not. These go back to the post I wrote a while ago (Click here to read it), Relationships, Unity & Focus. If we only have the same relationships we’ve always had in the worship arts ministry, then we need to change something. But if we’re building new relationships, then we’re winning. If we are finding a new unity amongst us, then we’re winning. However, if I’m being constantly bombarded with people who are unhappy about this or that, if I’m hearing a bunch of stuff “through the grapevine” then we’re not winning. If our focus is on worshipping God and nothing else, then we’re winning. If our focus is on us, making ourselves look good, seeking only our desires then we’re not winning.

There are other things I use to measure how we’re doing, but I want to hear from you (by the way – also a way I can tell whether we’re winning or not – if people are participating in conversations and I can see people taking ownership, then we’re winning).

What are some ways you think we could measure whether we’re winning or not?