Sum requietum (I am rested)

Hey, friends:

If you've been at church the last couple Sundays, you probably have either not seen me, or have seen me sitting on or standing near one of the red chairs in the congregation. In the words of Keith Newell, "It was nice to not see you today." "Nice not to be seen," I replied.

It really was nice not to be up there leading worship. This could catch on.

As has been stated several times, one of the goals of the worship ministry has been to broaden participation. Thankfully, I see that it is happening on a number of different levels, but for a while I had been a bit more reluctant to let it happen on the leadership level. For much of my 4.5+ years at the Bible Church, I have found it hard to relinquish the reins of worship planning and leading. Pride? Yes. Distrust in God? Perhaps. Lack of confidence in others' gifts? I'd like to think not; it's probably more accurate to say that I wanted things done a certain way, and the best way to ensure that is to do it myself. Heaven forbid that things may not be done the way Nat would do them!!! (Gimme a break...)

I thought both Denise and Cristy did a fabulous job in planning and leading the music and worship these last two weeks. A difference for me (and them) has been that I was still integrally involved in the planning process as a sort of "consultant", whereas I had previously just handed off the service to the leader, essentially "washing my hands" of any responsibility for what happened that week. Not a good course of action, I've learned. The result would often be a falling-through-the-cracks of some service elements -- a communication gap of sorts between Mark & Cyndi W. and the leader(s). Did both Denise and Cristy make decisions I would not have made? OF COURSE! But you know what? -- God was still glorified, the body was still edified, gifts were exercised, the Holy Spirit still worked in our community, and...God was still glorified.

More importantly, Rachel and I and the Boys were able to attend church together. That may not seem like a big thing to you, but that has almost never happened, let alone two consecutive weeks!! It meant a lot to both of us to be able to do that. It has been huge for our marriage.

I know there has been some (justifiable) concerns amongst the W.A.G. that not much action has been taken, but I'll tell you that there has been much tangible fruit at the "50-foot level" from our "50,000-foot" discussions. I have seen it in my life and ministry. I sincerely thank you all (please read that again). I have felt your prayers, have valued your input, and have thanked God for my relationships with you.

Looking forward to meeting with you Sunday!

Our next meeting is coming up on the 5th. Please let me know if there are any topics you would like to see discussed.

I am going to suggest we take some small steps over the next few meetings. On the 5th I would like to talk about how to strengthen the idea of the worship "community". I think the first task is an organizational one.
The architect in me wants to design a simple and elegant "structure" that will bring all the "artists" and worship "servants" together as a group, and provide worship and event leaders a great resource of people to participate in the life of the church. Identifying existing staff members that can help connect those wanting to serve with Nat and other worship and event leaders, and/or creating new lay positions, (similar to Yvonne Acker's) is something we can talk about.

We will have lunch!

Designing for the Long term

Thanks for the lively discussion at our last meeting. Here are a few thoughts;

Bottom line; we are still an advisory group, a think tank of sorts, providing Nat with suggestions and ideas as to how to make the worship ministry more effective.

What have we done so far? Most importantly we have grown together as a group. Also, through prayer and discussion we have identified some broad goals; make the worship experience more diverse, with broader participation, and more sensitive to God.

I do not think we are ready to change the focus of the group to be more action oriented quite yet, nor are we quite ready to "pick any fruit". This is the reason; The mechanisms that we put in place to help facilitate the diversity, broader participation and sensitive response need to be very well thought out (with prayer) and designed for the long term. We need to build a good foundation.

I pray these goals are very "other centered" rooted in love for the body and our desire to be sensitive to God.

I ask for continued prayer and patience, however I think we are making progress;

1. Yvonne Acker is providing administrative assistance, helping schedule the anticipated increase in participants.

2. "Liasons" for various interest groups are being considered to increase the likelihood of real response and actual participation. One person(ie. nat) cannot respond effectively. (Still need to figure out how to provide real response. )

3. The "worship community" is being developed and replacing worship "teams". This should assist in more diversity in worship, with different combinations and permutations of participants.

4. Gifted worship leaders, planners, prayer leaders, announcers, readers, "local" songwriters/artists and others specifically gifted are being identified and a committment to more regular scheduling is being encouraged. A very significant development is Nat's commitment to more training and support of lay leaders.

5. Coordination with the Teaching Advisory team is being initiated.

6. The WAG members are providing an invaluable feedback mechanism for Nat. This will help Nat in making good decisions about content, delivery and tone.

There are a lot of good ideas here. Maybe too many. I am going to suggest that we really stay focussed on these initiatives for awhile and continue to nurture them until they start bearing fruit or God reveals their foolishness. ("Sin on bravely" as Martin Luther King put it)

"God please continue to direct our efforts. We want to give back to you what is already yours, for your Glory."

Look forward to your comments and thanks again everybody for your committment and service to the body through this group.

Andrew

WAG Prayer and Discussion.

Agenda

1. Prayer

2. Blog recap

3. Recap - where have we been. Michelle..how is the mission statement coming?

4. Where are we going? - Nat's 2 month schedule. Is there a broader network in place? Answer from the horses mouth.

5. Thin slicing the service - let those gifted in singing- sing, let those who are gifted in prayer - pray, let those who are gifted in planning - plan, let those gifted in administering all the gifted people - let them administer.etc, etc.

6. Pray to Jesus to call what is already his. As He listened to His Father and did only what he was commanded, and as the Holy Spirit does not speak for itself, and only speaks what he hears from the Father and Son, let us listen and speak what we hear and give back what is already God's, bringing glory to our Lord. (I am eager to share this great passage I just came across)

Listening for the calling of various leaders and participants
-service planners
-worship leaders
-prayer leaders
-administrative leaders
-gifted artists
-announcers

7.State of the group - are we engaged, feeling useful and effective?

I am looking forward to seeing you all this Sunday after the second service. Please check the blog out on Friday or Saturday for a preview of some items we need to discuss. If anyone has an issue they would like to bring up, post it on the blog and I will incorporate it into the agenda. Some great dialogue since our last meeting.

God Bless!

Andrew