Archive for the ‘ministry’ Category

Ten Things Every Worship Leader Hears Way Too Often

Posted: January 11, 2014 in ministry, music, Uncategorized, worship, Worship Leaders
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As I attempt to creep back in to this blogging hobby, I want to start with something, a little whimsical, that has been on my mind the last several weeks. There are certain phrases every Worship Leader hears almost weekly, if not daily, that makes him or her cringe every time. Today I’ll throw out the list and then attempt to post about each one individually over the next couple weeks.

So I give you, Ten Things Every Worship Leader Hears Way Too Often:

1. “It’s Worship not a concert.”
2. “Why does it have to be so loud/quiet?”
3. “Some people just don’t like to sing/clap/raise hands/etc.”
4. “So what do you do for a living?”
5. “Have you ever considered becoming a real pastor?”
6. “I love watching you worship!”
7. “Can you sing Casting Crowns?”
8. “I just love your worship!”
9. “How hard can it be to lead four songs a week?”
10. “We should sing more Hymns/Contemporary/Modern/Praise/Choruses.”

Worship Leaders, which phrases would you add to this list?

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Worship vs. Jesus

Posted: July 1, 2011 in ministry, music, musicians, worship, Worship Leaders, worship team
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Musicians will play anything. It’s true. After leading worship for the past 15+ years I’ve discovered that most musicians love to play/sing and will jump at any opportunity to do so. I hear it all the time

“I love (Style)  but I am in a band that plays (Style). ”

or

“I really wish I could be playing (genre) but I’ve been with this (genre) band for the past several years”

You can see it in examples like this:
Katy Perry- Former Worship Leader
Sheryl Crow- Former back up singer for Michael Jackson
Run DMC and Aerosmith… need I say more?

It might sound strange to the non-musician but to those of us who love music its all too familiar. The true musician loves to play and most will give up almost anything to play on a consistent basis…  Including Sunday mornings. I find that one of the biggest struggles for Worship leaders and Musicians alike is the constant tension of their love for music and their love for Christ.

While we could spend hours writing and discussing why this is I think there are some simple ways to make sure this is not the case for you or your worship team.

1. Identify the truth.
Ask yourself: “If God were to take away my ability to sing, play, mix would I still be content in serving Him?” Your answer to this question will be the ultimate test of your heart for serving God and serving His church.  Christ teaches us in Matthew 6 that where our treasure is there are heart will be also. Is your heart on serving Christ or playing music?

2. Do something other than music
Worship in its purest form is described in Romans 12:1 as offering “your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God”. Did you notice there is not one word about music in that description? Sacrificing ourselves for the kingdom of God is our ultimate goal in worship and for the musician the best way to give up ourselves is to give up our music. Before I get tons of angry e-mails from angry Worship Leaders because their worship team has quit, I do not advocate you quit using your God given gift to do something like park cars or hand out bulletins. You’ve been given a gift of music and giving that gift back to God is important in your relationship with Him but it is Him we serve and a good dose of giving yourself to him in other ways is a great reminder of why we worship.

3. Personal Worship Time
The most powerful worship times you have in your life should be off the stage. Do you solely rely on your participation in the worship team to connect with God? This can be a big indicator in a musicians motives for playing on a worship team. The Bible tells us that Christ “often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16) because of His desire for time with God. This is an easy change, get in the Word and on your knees. Your personal time with God will be the biggest influence on your ability to lead worship with your team. Don’t underestimate the impact God will have on your ability to focus on Him first and your gift of music second.

4. Do the Hard Work
I often tell my worship team that playing on Sunday mornings is the blessing and our worship is given in the rehearsals or extra time we put in to making sure we bring our best to God on Sunday. It can be very easy for us to rely on our talents and just show up to play on Sundays. God is not looking for another good musician, He wants the very best of you. The time and effort we give up in order to give God our best is a direct reflection of how important God is to us.

Ultimately when we lead worship, whether consciously or subconsciously, we are telling people from the stage this is how you worship. Your church wants you to lead them, not play for them or sing to them. If God is not more important to you than your music, He wont be to the people you lead.

A Little Creativity

Posted: December 2, 2009 in communication, Creativity, ministry
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I don’t usually like receiving those cute little stories that jam up our in-boxes on an hourly bases but I read this one and I am glad I did… (this doesnt give you permission to clog up my inbox with cute little stories by the way) Enjoy!

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet.  He held up a sign which said: “I am blind, please help.”  There were only a few coins in the hat.
A man was walking by.  He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat.  He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.  He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up.  A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.  That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were.  The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning?  What did you write?”
The man said, “I only wrote the truth.  I said what you said but in a different way.” I wrote: “Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”
Both signs told people that the boy was blind.  But the first sign simply said the boy was blind.  The second sign told people that they were so blessed that they were not blind.  Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

We have the greatest message that could ever be told to any and all who are willing to hear. How we tell that story can and will impact those who hear it for a lifetime. It is an incredible responsibility we have to tell the story but what’s even more incredible is that God trusts us to share that story.  Don’t  take for granted that your method can impact your message. A little creativity can go a long way…

Breaking the Tension

Posted: December 2, 2009 in Goals, ministry, New Year, planning, worship team
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Hello

It’s way past 11:30

My mind will not shut down

I am awake when I should be sleeping

Reviewing the goals I wrote for my ministry teams five days ago

Actually since I changed every one of them I cant claim I set them last week

I love visioneering and creating and setting goals for huge accomplishments

But I am a dreamer and narrowing my focus is all but impossible

I will do my best to narrow big dreams

In to short concise statements

Then sleep until 5:30

Goodnight

21 Random Thoughts

Posted: November 26, 2009 in basketball, Bible, change, Christ, Christians, church, emotion, friends, Jesus, Leadership, marriage, mentor, ministry, mistakes, money, politics, Prayer, social networking, songs
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1. I love the holidays! They remind me that tradition means something and that new traditions are essential for creating new memories.

2. Basketball provides lots of life lessons for me.

3. I may be addicted to social media. Determining boundaries has proven to be difficult.

4. Emotion can be your worst enemy or your best friend and sometimes it’s one disguised as the other.

5. Learning and Mentoring go hand in hand. Keeping what you learn to yourself is arrogant and self serving.

6. I haven’t written a song in 15+ years. Disappointing

7. “If you build it, they will come” is not a biblical concept, neither is “God helps those who help themselves”. Both are quotes, one from a movie the other from a founding father.

8.The Matrix was a revolutionary Movie… to bad the sequels were not. A lesson we could all learn from.

9. The experiences God used to change our lives will not be the same experiences He uses to change the lives of those around us. We are not called to recreate for others what God created for us.

10. My life is a musical.

11. Only God can change your life. No church, religion, government or person can change your existence, no matter what they promise. No they can’t.

12. I have many pet peeves… most of which are things I hate about myself.

13. Exaggeration is just a rationalization for lying.

14. I need Jesus as much as anyone.

15. To ignore any one part of the Gospel is to ignore the whole.

16. You cannot claim to follow Christ and reject His body. Quit pretending that you can. If you are not a part of a church body find one or finally admit you just hate the fact that Christ died for all the people you can’t stand.

17. When we are in the worst economic crises since the great depression, discourage your wife from wearing the dress made with real sterling silver.

18. When God invests in you, make sure you provide a good return on His investment.

19. I love my job but it can be very hard at times.

20. Love God more than you love your spouse, love your spouse more than you love your kids and love your kids more than you love anything left in life. Not the other way around.

21. Creativity is.

Three Weeks, Two Prospectives and A Question of the Week

Posted: December 31, 2008 in America, basketball, Choir, Christ, Christians, Christmas, church, FCC Owasso, friends, Jesus, Mad Prop's Friday, ministry, politics, Prayer, sunday morning, Tuesday's Question of the Week
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Hello! It has been over three weeks since we last met and we have so much to catch up on! I don’t have a lot of time so let me try to catch you up on the last twenty seven days of my life as quickly as possible.

  • Avalon was incredible! Made some new friends through the process ( Cathy Freeman and Chris Kelly with Spirit 102.3, Greg Long with Avalon) and watched our church do a tremendous job in helping with the event.
  • Mad Prop’s to Cathy Killion for all her hard work on the Avalon show! She was my hostess and really went out of her way to take care of the group.
  • Christmas services FREAKING ROCKED! Jana Gorham had almost thirty people in the orchestra this year and as usual they were incredible, the Choir was bigger and better than ever, Brittany Bolt sang her guts out and rocked our faces off and as always the band was awesome. This had to be the best Christmas service EVER in our church.
  • Christmas Eve services were great as well. We did some things a little different but somehow throwing acoustic worship, Charlie Brown, a live nativity, the Christmas story read by grandpa Tom, communion and candle lighting in to one service worked!
  • Mad Props to my boy Mitch who managed to focus his attention to leading worship on one of the hardest days in his life.
  • Christmas at the Tibbles was awesome! I will always love Christmas morning with my kids more than any other day of the year! This year was awesome… there were nice lessons learned by my youngest. More on this later…
  • In-laws came to our place for Christmas #2. It was nice…
  • Spent more time with my grandparents in two days than all of 2008 combined. I love them so much. They are great examples to us in all aspects of their lives.
  • Had a great Christmas with my small group. I am so appreciative of them and their love for us and each other. Its great to be a part of a group where we are “Tim and April”.
  • I somehow ended up catching a cold that turned into a fever and sore throat… I hate being sick. Then again, who doesn’t?
  • Our Church Basketball League starts up soon… I am uber excited about this. I’m not a great player but I love basketball to a fault.

So that’s my life over the past three and a half weeks. Sorry we were not able to connect. What’s that you ask? What are my feelings on Rick Warren praying for the inauguration? Funny you should ask! What amazes me is the two opposing views of this prayer.
1. The “Liberal Left” is ticked at Obama for inviting a “gay hating”, “anti-abortion”, “narrow-minded conservative” to be a part of his inauguration. It’s funny to me because Obama is doing what he said he would do. Did these people think that he would unite only the Americans who agreed with them?
2. The “Conservative Right” is ticked at Warren because he has accepted the invitation to participate in Obama’s inauguration. This is funny to me because Warren is doing exactly what he is supposed to do as a Christian. Does this group think that Warren should stand up and call Obama a “hypocritical”, “gay loving”, “baby-killing” heathen like a lot of other so called Christian leaders? Isn’t Warren doing exactly what the rest of us should be doing… praying for Obama?

It was great to see you again! Lets meet up tomorrow. I would like to share my 2009 New Year’s Resolutions. Before you go let me give you my question of the week:

What is your top resolution for 2009?

See you tomorrow!

Family Hang Out Night

Posted: November 14, 2008 in children, dance, family, Kids, ministry, schedule
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A few weeks ago AP and I realized that our Thursday nights were out of control. Homework, basketball, football, dance, grocery shopping and about a half dozen other things all seemed to find their way in to our Thursday night schedule. We were running everywhere, trying to get everyone where they were supposed to be in a coordinated sequence of events that resembled a city wide game of musical chairs. We had become more fragmented as a family on Thursday nights than any other day of the week and for a family in full time ministry that means something.

We needed a way to rally Team Tibbles, so AP and I came up with the idea of a base camp. The concept was pretty simple, have a central location that we could set up and hang out while each of us accomplished our various activities and responsibilities. Usually, our shedules are so staggerd that I could run one of the kids to whatever thier commitment is for the evening while AP stays back at base camp. Then when I return AP is free to take the next child prodigy to the next event on our schedule. This process goes on until we run all of errands for the evening and all family members are back to base camp.

Not only has it worked out way better than expected, Thursdays have become one of my favorite nights of the week. For the past several weeks we have chosen Panera as our base camp. The kids get hot chocolate and I get wifi. We all look forward to it. Our night is still hectic but I get to spend quality time with each member of the fam.

Tonight I had a personal realization, there are a dozen places I am supposed to be and there are a million things I could be doing but there is only one place I want to be on Thursday nights…

Do you blame me?

Set Design

Posted: October 27, 2008 in church, ministry, planning, sunday morning, worship team
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This week we took down our set to prepare for Christmas stage. I really liked the direction this set took. We were pretty limited on budget so we had to put our creative brains to work. This is definitely not the design we initially planned but I loved the result.




We have some big ideas for our upcoming series…

Catalyst 08 Raod Trip # 6

Posted: October 10, 2008 in catalyst 08, church, FCC Owasso, Leadership, ministry, road trip
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Friday morning and I’m still trying to process all the information from yesterday. It was like drinking from a fire hose. Today promises to be another great day capped off by another message from Andy Stanley. Stay tuned!

Catalyst 08 Road Trip #5

Posted: October 9, 2008 in catalyst 08, church, conference, FCC Owasso, Leadership, ministry, road trip, staff
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Catalyst 08 has been awesome so far. We had a rough start this morning. Matt T. was in charge of making sure we were all up on time. Unfortunately there was some confusion about which time zone we were in and needless to say PC and Mike were knocking on our door before we were even out of bed.

Everything you have heard about he traffic in ATL is absolutely true; “GRIDLOCK”. It was a challenge getting to the convention center. We were about 3/4 of the way there when we realized AA left my ticket at the hotel on the desk in our room. Not a good morning for the young guys… Im sure PC was wondering what kind of responsible staff members he was working with.

Once we arrived at the convention the morning got way better. So far we have listened to Andy Stanley speak about earning the moral authority of those we lead. GREAT STUFF! We also listened to Jim Collins author of the book Good to Great. He had some excellent perspective on leadership. The highlight of my morning though was actually participating in a worship service that I was not leading. This is a rare treat for me, especially since it was lead by Steve Fee.

I have tons more to share but not a lot of time. Here are some pics from this morning.

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