Been a while

Ok...it's been a while!  I know.  This is not really my giftedness, but I do want to share with the people of "Blog-World" some of the things that are on my heart.  AND, Nicki and I made goals for each other for 2009 and one of her is for me to post something on my blog at least twice a month. (So what you're seeing now is the competitive side of me trying to live up to expectations!!)

Read something recently that talked about hospitality in church.  The idea was from the perspective of a worship leader, but it could be applied to the church as a whole.  The thought was that someone who is leading in worship should be very hospitable in their leadership.  That means that worship will become less about the leader and more about those he or she is leading. That's confusing...so for example.....If someone has an unbelievable voice and is singing to his heart's content on stage...that may not constitute worship leadership.  Instead, that person may have to mask his singing ability to keep the congregation engaged in the worship experience.  Think about it...most of the best worship leaders in our world today are not the most talented individuals.  You can mostly see this when some contemporary artist decides to step into the worship world (probably to catch the wave of the current movement)...usually a very awkward album.

So...how does this apply to a pastor?  I have to be sure that my ministry is to the people, for the people, and with the people.  Sometimes I can get so theological that I go right over people's heads.  I have to be sure that I'm communicating to the individuals that God has brought to our worship service rather than just amusing myself with what I've learned from a particular passage or subject.

Now...how does this apply to our church?  It means that we exist for the outsider.  One of the travesty's of church is that sometimes we get so wrapped up in our own pleasure that we forget that we have guests that we're trying to reach.  And even more than that, we have people who haven't darkened the doors of our church that we're trying to reach.  How are we going to reach them?  By doing what makes the longtime church member happy?  By making the pastors happy?  I think not. Outsiders are going to be reached by being engaged with the gospel.  We must show people how much God loves them and how much he wants a relationship with them.  What better way to do that than to allow God to engage their lives through worship and stand back to see what happens after that.

This Sunday, I pray that the people that come to our church will think more about others than about themselves.  Who are the most important people in the room?  They're probably the people that have been there the least amount of time.  May we put all of our effort into reaching them with the Love of God.