Our Worship "Experience"

This past week was a busy one for me. I felt a lot of pressure to perform since I had the responsibility to manage the worship team and worship time on Sunday morning. Naturally I was nervous about it, but I knew God would come through because He always does. At our church, we don't really call our " church service" a "service". We like to refer to it as a Worship Experience.

But, as much as it's supposed to be an "Experience", not everyone is experiencing God at a new, intensely different level. On that stage each week, I get the ideal view of our attendees. So many times when people are getting ready for worship to start, they are anticipating being entertained. They are anticipating being bored. They are probably anticipating seeing words on the screen to recite because they're not sure what else worship is about.

In simply reading the lyrics or just standing there watching Ruben rock out on the guitar we miss out on the true experience we COULD have in the presence of God. As a worship leader, it is my job to show the people and INFORM them what worship is about. How do I do that? How do I provide a place where people are able to understand what a God Experience is like? How can I turn this frustration into a beautiful result? I pose this question as I prepare for another week of leading our congregation to a place where they can see and feel and hear God more than ever.

Lord, this week, teach me. I will search You for this answer; You are my greatest help! Thank You Lord.

Refresh

This morning, church prep time was hard for me. I don't know why but everything seemed bothersome, tiresome, tedious and difficult. I knew I had this annoying THING hanging over my head & everyone could see it. (I don't hide my emotions well - anyone who knows me at all will not be surprised by this.) Going into our pre-service prayer time, I was (in all honesty) dreading service. I didn't really want to do this same program all over again.

But once worship started and I was sincerely praising God & thanking Him for everything He's done for me, then suddenly everything was... okay. I felt so much better. I felt refreshed. The rest of my day was so much better because of the time I spent in God's presence. His refreshing spirit is what got me through the day; yes, even through 5 screaming, fighting, falling toddlers. 

Thank You Lord, for Your Spirit that refreshes the most tired and worn out souls. You never fail.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go ice a cake :)

Chillin and Cheers

It's nice to be somewhere you know you are welcome. Right now, I'm chillin. Leia's mouth is full of pizza (with some sauce on her cheeks). Samson, John, Troy & Vince are watching in awe as Israel Houghton and Hillsong lead worship at a conference on TV (they'll do that one day). Tee is sitting here with me, Sylvie is working on a church project. Zai zai is playing on the internet (when I was 7, I had no idea how to work a computer...) Ant and Tara are so gracious to open their house to a bunch of kids like us.

Isn't it nice to be somewhere you know you're welcome? Where you can totally be yourself and know you're loved no matter what? Man, I wish every church was like this. People can come in and simply be themselves. Not have to put up a front, not have to pretend that they're happy if they're not, and not have to act like someone they're not. How is our church? Like a close-knit family? Or like a gathering of rival teams?

"Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name."

Can You See the Heart?

I just got off the phone with an incredible group of people. 

P Ant, Tara, Santz, Sylvie, BJ, Jesse, Marsha, Al & Diane. (Manny was there in spirit)   :)

Tonight on our conference call, Ant used a phrase I haven't heard in far too long. "Can you see the heart?" He was right. We had lost the heart in what we were doing. We had the basics; the pilot light was on, but the gas valve was closed.

But recently, things have been happening - a different kind of church and a different kind of worship has begun. For the past 2 Sundays, we've had no idea what was going to happen during service. The difference was that instead of having NO agenda, we yielded to God's agenda.

You know, sometimes you need a fan that's much bigger than the flame to get the fire going again.

Thank You Lord that You have begun a new thing in CWC, but more than that, You've begun a new thing in each of our hearts. Thank You for fanning that flame, that small yet constant flicker of light that needed a mighty wind to create a thunderous roar. Let Your roar echo through this valley.