International Worship Symposium

The International Worship Symposium is coming up this next weekend.


When: Friday and Saturday August 5th - 6th

Where: This year’s conference is being held at PASADENA FIRST CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE located at 3700 E. Sierra Madre Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91107. 

Contact: into@worshipsymposium.com

Top Songs

These are the top 21 songs as reported to CCLI in June 2011. I am interested to see what songs are being sung throughout the body of Christ. I am not interested in lists like this for the "competition" factor - I simply want to see what styles are working for congregations, and what themes are helpful in worship:

1. Mighty To Save (Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan)
2. How Great Is Our God (Chris Tomlin, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash)
3. Blessed Be Your Name (Beth Redman, Matt Redman)
4. Everlasting God (Brenton Brown, Ken Riley)
5. Revelation Song (Jennie Lee Riddle)
6. Here I Am To Worship (Tim Hughes)
7. Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) (Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, John Newton)
8. Open The Eyes Of My Heart (Paul Baloche)
9. Your Grace Is Enough (Matt Maher)
10. Jesus Messiah (Chris Tomlin, Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash)
11. In Christ Alone (Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)
12. Holy Is The Lord (Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio)
13. Forever (Chris Tomlin)
14. Shout To The Lord (Darlene Zschech)
15. Come Now Is The Time To Worship (Brian Doerksen)
16. Our God (Matt Redman, Chris TOmlin, Jonas Myrin, Jesse Reeves) * new
17. You Are My King (Billy Foote)
18. Lord I Lift Your Name On High (Rick Founds)
19. From The Inside Out (Joel Houston)
20. Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) (Paul Baloche}, Brenton Brown)
21. How He Loves (John Mark McMillan) * new

This is an interesting list - a great mix of old and new songs. Thank you CCLI!

Five Secrets To Seeing God

Here we go again - a second look at Psalm 27:4

One [thing] I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.

• "One thing have I desired" - bring your desire for God into focus. Reduce it to the most important thing. The word "desire" does not simply mean "to ask" but it means to make a careful request - even to "beg."

• "That will I seek" - this word means to "seek until you find," or to demand. Don't give up until you find the face of God.

• "That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" - it takes time to create a dwelling, or to make a place into your home. Make His presence Your home, and become comfortable with His house. Claim it as your own. This word "dwell" means to "sit down, abide or stay."

• "To behold the beauty of the Lord" - means "to see with your whole being." Look with spiritual eyes, but also look with your understanding. Take time to look at the Lord carefully. He wants us to see Him (John 17:24).

• "...And to inquire in His temple." - This word means to cling to the thing you are looking at. There is a sense in this word that we are expecting a response from the Lord. We are asking Him for a response to our looking.

One Thing

Here is a verse that I have been meditating on for so many years - Today I got to speak about Seeing God and this was one of the key verses:

Ps. 27:4

One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple.

So few are able to bring all their desires and enjoyments of life down to "one thing."

David's great desire in this verse is to look at God and learn from Him. He knows how to wait in the presence of God and to gaze on His utter loveliness. But he doesn't stop there - David expects to receive something from the Lord. He wants to learn something of God's secrets - right here...right now.

May we all examine our hearts and let the unnecessary things fall away so that we might run after the "one thing" that will cause us to be changed into HIs likeness:

Psalm 17:15

As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness;
         I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.

Grains of Sand

Psalm 139:17-18

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
         How great is the sum of them!
  If I should count them, they would be more in number
than the sand;
         When I awake, I am still with You. 

I came across some close-up pictures of sand recently (on the Internet). How amazing to see that each grain is so different and beautiful. 

Now, open your mind to the thoughts of God. See if He will share His wonders with you today. There are more things for Him to show us than there are grains of sand on every beach, in every nation on this planet...and on every planet in the universe. In other words, His thoughts are limitless and incredibly beautiful. We have not even scratched the surface of the delightful things He wants to show us. Begin with David and turn your eyes to the beauty of the Lord:

Psalm 27:4

One thing I have desired of the Lord,
         That will I seek:
         That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
         All the days of my life,
         To behold the beauty of the Lord,
         And to inquire in His temple.

Here are some photos of individual grains of sand - see if you can find two the same:

Jesus is the "I AM"

Jesus said He is the I AM (John 8:58) 'Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”'

Here are 7 occasions where Jesus says He is the "I AM"

with a predicate:

1. The Bread of Life - John 6.35-58

2. The Light of the World - John 8.12-19; 9.4-5

3. The Good Shepherd - John 10.1-18

4. (John 10:7, 9 NIV)  Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate (door) for the sheep.

5. The Resurrection and the Life - John 11.17-27

6. The Way, the Truth and the Life - John 14.1-14

7. The True Vine - John 15.1-17 

Who do you say that He is?

OK...So What's Wrong With My Poll?

I love polls...I have never been contacted by Rasmussen, or any of those professional pollsters, but I have a secret desire to contribute to the daily debates of our times by offering my views on all and sundry topics.

So here I go - offering a poll on my wee blog, and no one seems interested in participating.

What's wrong - it is in the wrong pace? You don't like the question? None of the answers suit you? What is it?

Let me know your thoughts and I will make adjustments accordingly...because I love polls!

Worship Arts Conference - Charlotte

15th ANNUAL SUMMER

WORSHIP DANCE/ARTS CONFERENCE

JULY 25^TH – 29^TH, 2011

See You There!!!!

A verse for today

Isaiah 42:10 ...Sing to the Lord a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth... 

The Amplified Bible says that this song of praise is a song that has never been heard before in the heathen world! No matter how creative or talented the composers, musicians, and singers, there is no way that any one of them will be able to match the aesthetic beauty of the new song that come from the presence of God. One sound of heaven, touched by the glory of God, will surpass every other musical endeavor yet attempted on this earth. 

Today - sing songs of deliverance and healing over Norway.

Pray for Norway

Our hearts are broken for Norway today as two related terrorist attacks have occurred there.

Please join us in prayer for this great nation.

We are scheduled to go there for 2 months from August to September this year. God is doing wonderful things in the Church of Norway and he enemy is obviously upset. We are praying for the Believers to rise up with God's love, comfort and grace to minister over the nation.

How do we get into the Presence of God?

I asked a friend (John Holborn from Southern California) what were the secrets of the "worship success" in his church. Here is his answer - I thought it was worth sharing:

Why are we getting into the heavenly atmosphere?

1. No religious spirits allowed. If you want to be religious- there are plenty of places that can accommodate you.

2. Surround yourself with hungry young people- if they are not hungry- convince them that they are starving.

3. Top notch cracker-jack musicians, who know how to flow, play and sing out. Boldness, no wall flowers here- 

4. A pastor who gets it- worship, dance, creativity, and fosters deep relationship and community with his/her people- friendliness.

5. A worship leader who gets it- if we are not pulling the congregation into the experience then go get another worship leader. This is not a gig, look at how hot I am- how do you like my hot little riffs- no. The leader knows their team and is responsible for a vibrant exciting encounter- when things get worshipful- change the gears- don't go through your whole set- stay with where the anointing is- if it is not on the next song- go back to where you left it. Loiter in the pools of anointing- non linear approach. 

6. Sure helps to have a bowed stringed instrument- you can sustain the notes- and draw the bow to create a pallet of expression. Or at least a keyboard player who can manipulate the instrument with pads inducing a worshipful feel. Most players use two or three of the hundreds preset combinations. The really talented ones like Steve Swanson- have a laptop filled with pads and sounds- and use an interface to export them to the sound board.

7. Song selection is important - I spend hours on iTunes listening to demos.

Our goal is to create the atmosphere for encounter - people get saved and healed in this stuff. Of course this is LA. Yet I know only a handful of churches that even come close, let alone are in it - we want the presence badly, and very hard (in rest) to obtain it.



Thanks John for sharing this with us - I know that we are hungry (starving) for more of God. These are some great thoughts.

Authentic Worship - 2

Just a few more thoughts to continue from yesterday:

• Control. Unfortunately this is a common problem with pastors or worship leaders who are very concerned about issues such as time, emotionalism, making everything perfect (there is a difference between being perfect and being excellent.) Some people simply do not want God to “talk” in church. The easiest way to “control” such things is to do everything yourself and exclude the whole body…and sometimes the Lord.

The worship service can be “over-programmed” where we dictate when, and how the Lord is able to speak. Some worship leaders come to the worship service with an agenda and are determined to go in that direction no matter what happens.

While it is certainly not wrong to have your service well planned and thought out, there must be sections of the service where we allow the Lord to manifest His presence and words.

• Tradition. Often we are bound to the way things have always been done and are unable to break free of traditions that the Lord might be drawing us into as a church body. (Tradition: the living faith of the dead; Traditionalism: the dead faith of the living.)

It is easy to sink into the same old patterns where we don't embrace any changes. I know God does not change (James 1:17) but we need to constantly be changing and become more and more like Him. That means we cannot "rest" solely in the liturgies and order of service that make us set in our ways - we must be open to the living flow of God in the meetings.

Authentic Worship Part 1: HERE

Authentic Worship 1

I am interested in a list of issues you all think are the greatest hinderances to authentic worship. I have some ideas and will start it off, but I want to hear from you all. Please
leave a note...or two, and help me to put a comprehensive list together.

 • Worship leaders who don’t lead—they just sing. There is a difference between being a 

"song leader" and a "worship leader."

• Focus on the music rather than the Lord. Sometimes we make the music more important

than genuine worship. We are looking for the next great song, or we are focused on the 

style of the worship music rather than being focused on the Lord.

• Faulty theological understanding of biblical Worship—many don’t fully enter into worship

simply because they do not know what heights and depths are available to them. Authentic

worship, and knowing God’s presence must become the ultimate goal of the Church.

• Time. So often we are simply bound to the clock rather than to a flow of the Holy Spirit.

The service (and God’s ability to speak) is controlled by time. While we do not need hours

in order to have prophetic worship, we do need to be willing to yield to the leading of the

Holy Spirit.

Authentic Worship Part 2: HERE

Worship and Arts Conference July 24 - 29

Just letting everyone know about the wonderful worship and arts conference coming up in Charlotte NC

When: July 24th - 29th

Where: Zion Center For Worship And The Arts -  2940 Commonwealth Avenue Charlotte, NC 28205


Phone: (704) 377-6575


Why: Awesome classes - wonderful people - dynamic evenings of worship...oh...and I will be there!

Friends

Today I am inviting friends to come and visit this site. If you do pop in, please leave a note. Let me know what is on your heart and leave a challenge, Scripture or question for all of us to consider.

Also - use this place to advertise your own worship conference or event. We want to know what is going on in the Body of Christ.

Welcome to one and all.

Karitos 2011

We just finished the Karitos conference for this year:

http://www.karitos.com/

I don't know about you, but there is something special about gatherings of worshipers from so many denominations and worship experiences. What a joy to see this gathering in Chicago this year. I don't know of any other worship conference that equips creative artists in worship ministry quite like Karitos. There were classes for singers, musicians, dancers, actors, photographers, painters, poets, writers, film producers, potters etc. The evening meetings were filled with featured artists and speakers.

Think about coming next year - it will be a blast I am sure.

Is There a difference between Praise and worship?

Some people don't think there is any difference at all - I disagree.

Here are some ideas that crossed my mind that might help to open up the discussion:

God dwells in our praises.

God reveals Himself in our worship.

Praise is a sacrifice—requiring faith.

Worship is a response—requiring the sight of God.

In praise, we declare His acts: What He has done, is doing, and will do.

In worship, we commune with Him in intimacy.

Praise brings us to the presence of God.

Worship responds to the presence of God.

We praise God for what He has done.

We worship God for who He is.

We praise God as we come before Him with thanksgiving.

We worship God when He comes before us by revelation.

We praise God from afar.

We worship God face to face.

Praise involves the remembrance of God.

Worship is increased through relationship and revelation of God.

Let me know what you think about this list - I will be interested to hear your comments

Two Frogs In Cream

TWO FROGS IN CREAM

by T.C. Hamlet

Two frogs fell into a can of cream,

Or so I’ve heard it told;

The sides of the can were shiny & steep,

The cream was deep & cold.

“O, what’s the use?” croaked Number One,

“’Tis fate; no help’s around.

Goodbye, my friends!  Goodbye, sad world!”

And weeping still, he drowned.

But Number Two, of sterner stuff,

Dog-paddled in surprise.

The while he wiped his creamy face

And dried his creamy eyes.

“I’ll swim awhile, at least,” he said-

Or so I’ve heard he said;

“It really wouldn’t help the world

If one more frog were dead.”

An hour or two he kicked & swam,

Not once he stopped to mutter,

But kicked & kicked & swam & kicked,

then hopped out...

via butter!

Heart of the Worshiper

Heart of the Worshiper

Deuteronomy 10:12 shows us 5 things that are needed in the heart and life of a worshiper:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you,

but to fear the Lord your God,

to walk in all His ways

and to love Him,

to serve Him,

to serve the Lord your God with all your heart

• Walk in the fear of God

• Walk in all His ways

• Walk in love for God

• Walk in servanthood - inwardly

• Walk in servanthood outwardly

I would welcome comments on the meaning of these five points.

Thank you all