Husband. Father. Pastor.

The Battle is Not Your’s but the Lord’s

2 Chronicles 20:21 After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying:“Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.” 
    
 If you’re anything like me, you get comfortable with the weekly schedule of rehearsing and doing church.  Week in and week out it’s the same…different songs, sometimes a different flow to spice things up but by and large we’re getting together with the same people to do the same thing every week.  We’re on dangerous ground if we fall in to the normalcy of our services.  There is a very real enemy who wants nothing more than to throw a wrench in any one of our services.  If we don’t equip ourselves every day he will succeed in messing us up.
     
Today, read through 2 Chronicles 20.  Notice what Jehoshaphat does the moment he hears of trouble (verse 3).  Also notice who he sent out at the front of the army and the result (verses 21-22).  The worship leaders were at the head of the army singing praises to God.  They were up against insurmountable odds but knew that they needed to seek after the only One who could win their battle.  

We’re not facing a physical army when we go to church to lead this week but make no mistake that there is a war going on for the souls of those that will be with us.  Pray that God moves in a powerful way through our worship this week.  There’s tremendous power when God’s people gather together to honor Him.

The Spotlight is for Him

Yesterday, I was given a great opportunity to lead worship on Celebration Radio.  It was really cool to be able to join them and help them kick off their prayer and praise fundraiser.  Thank you so much to all of you that tuned in and supported us.  We really appreciate the positive feedback!  Mark Murdock was the host with us and he was great to work with.  He asked us some really good questions but one stuck out to me as we were heading out.

He asked us if we had a name for our particular group….I didn’t have a name for this group and we settled on just calling us a worship team from Shelter Cove Community Church.  Not very eloquent at all!

The five of us could have very easily thought up a name for ourselves but that’s not at all what it’s about.  We were simply a sampling of the worship ministry here at Shelter Cove, each using their gift where needed for the edification of the the church.  It’s so awesome that our church’s worship ministry is filled with so many people that are willing to use their gifts where needed.

I really feel that the ultimate goal of a thriving worship ministry should be transparency.  We may be on the platform (or on the radio in this case) but we’re really just part of the church…. a group of believers coming together to worship and learn more about a great God.

When the spotlight is on us, we are to take that attention and point it to the One who deserves it.

The Harvest Isn’t Ours

 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 

1 Corinthians 3:7-9

How easy is it to take the credit for something?  I find in my own life that I will quickly lap up accolades when they’re given but Paul makes it clear that we merely play a part in the grand scheme of doing ministry.  The image above is from a youth worship service last January.  Only God knows what seeds were planted that morning.

This weekend, I get to play my part in God’s plan for our churches weekend services.  I’ll help lead around a thousand people in worship but will only get to really interact with a handful of them…..God will meet with each and every one of them in a unique way.  Throughout our church building people will be cultivating what God has started.  We get in trouble if we forget that it is his harvest…don’t let pride take hold and claim credit for what God is doing.

  It’s humbling and awe-inspiring to be a part of God’s plan.  What part do you have to play in God’s harvest today?  What seeds can you plant?  

I thank God that He allows me to be a worker on His field!

Worship Recap for October 16-17, 2010

Saturday:

You Are Good

Blessed Be Your Name

Healer

Draw Me Close

We Will Remember

Heart of Worship

Sunday:

My Savior Lives 

Lord I Run to You

Your Great Name

Agnus Dei

We Will Remember

Heart of Worship

We are still in our series about worship and it has been great watching our congregation really get it.  I think these services will help our church take it’s worship to another level!  Special shout out to our drummer and guitarist on sunday that decided to start the early service without letting anyone else know…that was a great way to keep us on our toes!

Worship Recap for October 9-10, 2010

What an amazing weekend!  Here’s the set:

Friend of God - Houghton

Bless Your Name - Kirkland

I Give You my Heart - Morgan

Here I am to Worship - Hughes

We did two songs at the front of the service and two at the end.  Our church really got in to the worship right out the gate and had an awesome time of waiting on God after the message.  People kept singing after they were dismissed so the worship team did  a reprise of “Here I am to Worship” after each service.

We were blessed to have Lauren Freitas come and sing an original song for us called “Fully Abandoned” before the message Check out her music!

The youth ministries are doing a big outreach called 10.10.10 (apt, I know) and they had 185 people packed in our multi-purpose room this morning for our high school service.  I get to join them for young adults tonight so I’m looking forward to seeing what God has in store for this evening!

But it hurts!

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-3

As many of you know, I’ve been on a year long process of memorizing the book of James.  The book is full of so much wisdom for only 5 chapters (I’ve memorized up to half way through chapter 3, thanks for asking).  The method I’ve employed was to recite the first verse and then add another, and another, and another…it’s done well so far but I’ve got to be honest, I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve recited these three verses from the first chapter.  So many times that I fear their impact had been lost on me for a while.  I got the chance to spend some time with a great mentor of mine this morning and he reminded me of this verse and it jumped out at me, no longer just a couple verses that I spout off on my way to completing my recitation.

Christians will spout this verse off for almost any issue that arises but I’m afraid very few take it to heart.  James doesn’t tell us to just endure trials, he says that we’re supposed to embrace them with joy….

Have you done that?

I’d like to say that I do, that every trial that comes my way is met with a smile and a warm embrace but that’s not the case….but I am going to strive to change that.  

I want to encourage all of you to brace for the trials that you will face.  As Pastor David says here at Shelter Cove “It’s not a matter of if you’ll face a trial, it’s a matter of when.”  We’re called to be joyful because we know that God is working something bigger than we see in the moment.  We’ll look back and see His faithfulness

Prophecy Conference Worship Recap

Highlight of the weekend:  On Saturday night Dr. Hocking called for a slide that he didn’t provide for us so he could intentionally have fun at our expense…he even got Pastor David!

What a whirlwind of a weekend.  Here’s the set we did for Saturday night:

Love the Lord

Jesus Paid it all

“Jewish Medley” - a combination of a few “oompah” songs that our church does.  The band had a blast as we slowed down and sped up each verse and song.  The harmonies were a fresh change for the singers, we spent a lot of time working on them before the service and I think it paid off.

Great is Thy Faithfulness - I added this to the service because Dr. Hocking had quoted it at all three of the sessions he had already given.  The room was alive with praise as we settled in with this song.

The choir joined us for the Sunday services and, oh man, did they bring it.  They really led our congregation by example!  Here’s the set:

Love the Lord

We’ve Come to Worship - the choir was amazing!  They sounded awesome but, more importantly, their heart for worship was spread throughout the room!

Agnus Dei

You Hold Me Now - personal favorite and one that really resonates with our church.  ”In this life I will stand through my joy and my pain, knowing there’s a greater day, there’s a hope that never fails”

I’m so blessed to be a pastor at this church!

I’m a what now?

This weekend marks a surreal landmark in my life.  Nearly fifteen years ago I was a new guitarist and had been on our school’s chapel worship team, I sported my blue strat with much pride.  I felt a strong calling from God to use my ability for His glory, even though my ability was meager at best at that point in my life.  Somewhere in the process of growing up in high school I decided that ministry wouldn’t provide enough money for me and my family, I was quite the sensible 17 year old.  I put aside my music and went through some very unproductive years in my life and for the kingdom.

Seven years ago, I joined Shelter Cove’s worship team as the electric guitarist.  I was the brash lead guitar player that anyone could imagine.  My riffs were music to the ears of the rockers and poison to the more venerable members of the church.  I thank the Lord that there were some members of the worship team who wrapped their arms around me and helped me grow up.  God used this time to rebirth my desire to be a worship pastor and the church looked to me as an intern to start building a worship ministry for the youth department.  It was a great foot in the door and I’m so glad that the Lord has kept me at this church. I’ve been able to watch those jr. high students I worked with grow up and become fantastic worship leaders themselves!

I’ve been doing full time ministry at the church for a little over four years now.  When I first started my life was consumed by what I thought was a noble goal: to become a pastor.  I pushed everywhere I could in my efforts to have the church license me but it felt like I slammed in to brick walls everywhere I turned.  I was discouraged but God met me one morning during my quiet time and told me “If you want to be a pastor, be a pastor.”

God rocked my world with that simple statement.  My whole career in ministry up to that point was spent looking for external forces to give me the appropriate title, to bestow upon me some sort of spiritual power that I couldn’t attain without ceremony.  God gave me so much clarity; it was at that point that I realized that I was already a shepherd to my family and to those that were involved in my ministries.  I stopped chasing after a title and began chasing after God.

And now, by His grace, the church that I love has come along in agreement with God and is granting me the title of pastor.  I’m humbled, honored, and pray that God will use me in whatever way He sees fit.  A calling that He put on my life fifteen years ago is finally coming to fruition and I’m so thankful to be where I am.