Text-Fessional for Sunday, July 29th, 2007
Well, thought i’d get to this earlier but i was too busy making post-it note eyes and watching Beckham make his MLS Debut last night, but better late than never.
If you haven’t yet, read the preface, because that covers some important stuff.
So after discussing the plans with the band we thought it’d be best to have myself and josh play acoustic while singing. During the time we definitely wanted some discussion with the students about worship. I started off with a confession and apology, stating much of what was stated in the preface and being honest - ”i’m still learning this whole worship leader thing.” That part went okay; I think it was important for the students to see the authenticity. Without going into too much detail, the ministry has been through so much transition that many of the students just felt like I was another guy to come through and take over with out any regard to how they felt about it. Honestly that wasn’t the case, but with the history, I told them I understood their feelings.
Then I shared this verse, which absolutely floors me still:
O Lord, open my lips,
And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise.
Psalms 51:15-17
Here’s David, in a time where the only recognized way to commune with God is by being a prophet, a priest or through your animal / harvest sacrifices, yet he really gets the essence of worship. It’s not about the physical outpouring, it’s about the heart. I told the students (and leaders for that matter) straight up that its not my job to prod them to clap or sing or stand or sit; all I can do and all we can do as a praise team is offer God what He desires: a real honest outpouring of worship from the heart.
This discussion went pretty well… I also referenced 1 Samual and John 4 that are often referenced in worship discussions, but focused on the Psalms verse. This ended up being our line up:
Enough – Tomlin
Overwhelm Me – (dunno, can’t find it online) Josh introduced this song and led it.
From The Inside Out- Hillsong United
We’re using From The Inside Out as our “theme song” for this experiment, although I rarely do “theme songs” it seems to fit. I received good feedback from the students that they appreciated how it went and enjoyed the change of pace. One student stated it was much more of a worship experience than anything we’ve had in a long time.
After week one, I certainly feel confident this is the direction the ministry needs right now.
How did last night go?