Tag: Worship

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From a veteran Worship Leader

FOUND THIS OVER HERE.

It's a good and interesting read.  Bob Kauflin wrote:

"I remember when 55 seemed really old. Right now it feels like the prime of life.  What does a 55 year old worship leader think about? Here’s a sample… 1. The years I have left for fruitful ministry are dwindling. Used to be I never thought much about death. Now I think about it at least weekly. Life is short, and it keeps getting shorter. I estimate I have between 10-20 more years of fruitful ministry, Lord willing. Then again, I may not live to see 2011. A lot to accomplish before I’m done, though. Songs to write, messages to preach, albums to produce. Maybe another book or two. And then I get to see the face of my Redeemer. So I keep running the race. 2. Now’s the time to influence the next generation. These years aren’t about me (were they ever?). I want to spend more time helping younger musicians and leaders grow in their godliness, gifts, and influence. I’m hoping to offer an study/internship next fall for a few guys, and in the mean time trying to spend more regular time with twenty-something potential leaders. I don’t want to act like I have nothing to learn from the next generation, and I want to do everything I can to help them avoid some of the mistakes I’ve made. So I mentor. 3. Relationships and the local church matter. It’s never just about “my ministry.” It’s always about what part of the body I am, how I fit in with the rest of the body, and how I do my part to make the body function well. That means I make sure I have close friends at every stage of life who I’m walking out life with, who will encourage, counsel, challenge, support, correct, and pray for me. So I sink my roots deep in the church. 4. God has often used books (or sentences in those books) to change my life. I can trace much of my thinking about life and worship to individual sentences in books I’ve read over the years, starting of course, with Scripture. Other books have included Music Through the Eyes of Faith by Harold Best, Desiring God by John Piper, Engaging with God by David Peterson, and Valley of Vision. There are many more. If I get one perspective-altering thought from a book, that’s time well invested. So I read. 5. Music can become boring—Jesus can’t. It’s not the latest songs, creative arrangements, or unique sounds that make corporate worship amazing and awe-inspiring. It’s a clear and compelling picture of Jesus Christ, the only Savior of the world. As long as I have that understanding, leading songs will never become routine or banal, and my worship of God will never be dependent on musical innovation. So I value truth over tunes. 6. Worship leaders can be cool. Biblical worship can’t be. By nature, “cool” describes something that the world esteems as hip, desirable, elitist, and perhaps elusive. Biblical worship is very un-hip, hated by the world’s value system, and a gracious gift from God to those he has redeemed. It involves magnifying the glory of Christ and minimizing our own glory. It means acknowledging our sinfulness before a holy God, expressing gratefulness for the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ for our sins, and responding in humble obedience to his commands. All very uncool activities. So, no need to worry that I’m twice as old as a lot of the people I lead corporate worship with. 7. Experience, planning, and skill are no substitute for the Holy Spirit. Experiences have taught me a lot over the years. Planning ahead is a way of serving the people I lead. Skill is a vital component to leading worship effectively. But ultimately, only God’s Spirit can give people a knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). It doesn’t matter whether I’m leading 5 people or 5,000, my need for God’s empowering presence is the same. So I pray. 8. God isn’t seeking worship leaders; he’s seeking worshipers. Since “worship leader” isn’t even a biblical term, I don’t want to find my identity in being one. I’m happy to use my musical gifts to draw people’s attention to the greatness of Christ, but there are plenty of other ways I can do that, too. Loving my wife, speaking kindly, being generous, sharing the gospel, caring for the poor, to name a few. In At the end of it all, the only ones worshiping God are bondservants (Rev. 22:3). So I seek to serve for the glory of God. 9. God only has redeemed sinners to work with. None of the hype is to be believed. Everyone sins. There are no perfect leaders. No one, except Jesus, is worthy of emulation in every way. That includes me. When I was younger I thought I was a lot more godly than I think I am now. Maybe I’ve been backsliding all these years. Or maybe I just have a more realistic view of myself. And in spite of it all, God has mercifully given his Son to pay for all my sins, and graciously brought fruit through my life for his glory. Amazing grace. Looking forward to whatever the Lord has in store for me in my remaining years, and want to say with Paul: It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death (Phil. 1:20)."

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We all need a coach

We all need a coach.  Somebody in our life who can help us be better than we would be without them.  This is Stephanie Lancione, she's a coach in GSM.  That's not her official title or anything but just watching her, she's DEFINITELY  a coach! A coach to me is anyone who will spur you on to greatest in any area of your life. Steph serves in GSM through helping our background vocalist be awesome!  With students helping lead worship we don't just want to put them on stage and say good luck, we want them to be the best they can possibly be for Christ. If we're going to raise up the next generation (some of whom may be the next worship leader) why not give them the best coaching available! Knowing and bleeding that vision Steph stepped up and said that she should could help serve through helping our vocalist with song arrangements, harmony's, stage presence, and anything else they would need to know.  Steph's a great coach because she's loves it's and she's INCREDIBLE at it.  Also, she's on the vocal team for our main weekend services at GCC and has been on that team for a long time...so she brings all those years of wisdom and experience to GSM and helps our students. We're blessed to have her and her husband John as volunteers in our ministry.  John's a stellar GSM Group leader, Steph's an amazing vocal coach and she also lead our MOVE09 Mission trip last summer!

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Sam Bradford & Colt McCoy say that Jesus is #1 on Video

Sam Bradford is starting Quarterback for the University of Oklahoma (Sooners).  In 2008 he became the Second SOPHOMORE EVER to win the Heisman Trophy and as a freshman he set the NCAA record for most touchdowns passes with 36. Colt McCoy is the starting Quarterback for the University of Texas (Longhorns).  He was the runner up (behind Bradford) for the 2008 Heisman Trophy.  In 2008 he won the Walter Camp Award and he's already projected to be a First Round Draft Pick.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO

My buddy Clif Marshall posted this yesterday on Twitter and I loved it!  I haven't checked this site in a while and I'm glad these two guys hopped on here and made a video sharing their faith!

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GSM Worship Rocks! "Kingdom"

Here's a video from our first GSM worship song of the year!  This is our 'battle cry' as a ministry! I love watching our group worship God together!

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Seth singing his original song "So Beautiful"

Video of Seth Bible (GSM Worship Leader) singing his original song "So Beautiful" at Camp Adventure 2009 July Session. He's got some great original music and this is my favorite song of ALL of his songs. Anytime he's playing a show I literally beg him to play this song. He's got some new ones he's writing that I love as well. I'm amazed at his ability to capture the heartbeat of worship in his music. Enjoy!

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If you haven't read this, you should.

This post was right on the money.  This topic has been on my mind for a LOOOONG time and Tony did a great job of throwing some obvious truth into the mix of things to think about.

Here's a glimpse:

"While the church still leans on a mix of rock and pop music as the preferred worship genre, our culture has shifted once again. Now, according to iTunes, 1 in 3 of the top 100 songs in the country is either hip-hop/rap or R&B/soul. My guess, though, is that you can’t name a church in the country that’s using these genres of music for worship. Why is that? Now, before you let your “it’s-not-our-culture” bias set in, consider this. Most of the hip-hop and R&B music has been recorded by black artists. 14% of the U.S. population is black. But, remember, nearly one-third of the music purchased on iTunes is one of these two genres. You do the math. White people like hip-hop."

Later in the post he wrote...

The people making decisions about music choices in services don’t prefer this style of music. And, don’t we all know, preferences drive decisions in churches.

Churches are not hiring worship leaders (or raising up volunteers) who can authentically lead worship with these genres of music.

Christian artists aren’t recording music that reflects what our culture is listening to.

Churches don’t know the culture they’re trying to reach. If a third of the country is buying hip-hop or R&B music, you’d think at least one church would be trying to use that style of music to reach those people for Jesus.

  Read more: HERE

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Wednesday Night at Camp Adventure

I can't wait for Wednesday Night at Camp Adventure this summer!  Camp is a pressure cooker for Jesus and every year we get to witness hundreds of students and counselors taking MASSIVE STEPS towards Christ! Wednesday Night at camp is always one of my highlights! My prayer for all students is that at some point they will GIVE their lives to Christ and camp is the perfect organic environment where it seems safe for students to do that.  Obviously, it can and does happen anywhere but I love to see students reconnect and connect with God at camp.

Camp Adventure is filling up!  Don't forget to get signed up.  Go to gccwired.com to the students page and you'll find all the info there! 

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I love this pic

This pic captures so much of what I love about GSM. I'm honored to be a part of God's plan. Volunteer leader (Jonathon Anderstrom) took the photo Student (Brandon Ellsworth) on the electric guitar Student (Megan Wotring) singing background vocals  Seth our worship leader doing what he does best. Students reaching their hands to the risen christ in worship. Not in picture: Student (Riley Robbins) on drums, Student (Katie Coffel) also singing background vocals, Jeff on Bass, and volunteer leader (Sarah Koutz) on keys. God has so many gifted children, I love allowing space for them to use that gifting.

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I'm so happy

I don't think I ever posted this video but this is from a few months ago but it makes me "HAPPY" every time I hear it.   This song was to illustrate the 'honeymoon' stage of Christianity when EVERYTHING seems to be going right and everything is "up and to the right"!   This particular week in the Dear God Series (in January) we were illustrating the roller coaster journey that most of us take as we pursue Jesus.  We did this song mixed with some drama (video and live) elements then finished off with John Mayer's "Gravity" that led right into the message. Enjoy, our students were loving it.  The middle schooler especially, they were bouncing around.....literally......bouncing.....around singing it after service, it was great! GSM Band "I'm So Happy" from Jeffrey Myers on Vimeo.

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A taste of worship at GSM

Here's our GSM Band led by our worship leader Seth Bible this past weekend at GSM.  I love watching our students worship God through singing. (This isn't the whole band, we have students on a rotation, but this was the band for this week.) GSM Band "We Shine" from Jeffrey Myers on Vimeo.