CHANGED from blaine hogan on Vimeo.

This music video was created for Aaron Niequist’s new song, Changed.

©2009 AARONieq Music / Willow Creek Community Church

I Love this video.  it speaks in simple ways about the awesome things that God has called us to.  “How can we worship more than singing?” is a question we have to ask regularly.

Right now, I’m knee deep in planning an Arts Reception for all the creative, musical, artistic types at my church.  My hope is to empower as many people as possible to connect with our church and use their gifts and to connect with other individuals who share their passions.  I’m extremely excited about the potential of what could come from people gifted by God to do creative things getting together to spread the Gospel, provoke thought and action, and to communicate the heart of God.

Keep me in your prayers as I can get a little overwhelmed with the minute details (that I don’t really need to worry about).  I know that God is in control and working things out wonderfully according to his plan.  If you’re in the Chicago area on August 30th, I’d love to see you there!  You can get details at WCarts.eventbright.com!

It’s awesome to see what’s happening here and across the country as THOUSANDS are attending live via Satellite locations.  For those who aren’t familiar with the Twitter culture – you’ll often see hash tags that look like this: #tls09. Hash tags create an easy way for people on Twitter to follow a particular topic. The above listing is a real-time stream of messages that include #tls09.

The great thing about Twitter is that it allows instant communication around topics – in a public format.  I’ve met and connected with other leaders simply by following who is talking about what topics that interest me.  I’ll write more about this soon.  Thanks for reading and always feel free to leave comments below!

NEWS NOTE: Twitter.com is experiencing what is known as a “denial of service” or “DOS” attack.  What happens is people with bad intentions purposely send a flood of requests to a site or service so that it overwhelms the system and forces the entire system to shut down.  So the site or above stream may not show up if the attack is still in progress.

How To Build A Rockin Praise Band

• The team should work it’s best to help the Worship Leader do the best they can do in leading the congregation
• Keep room for creativity in rehearsals
• People first experience music as entertainment – so it must be engaging / exciting enough to capture their attention before it will be able to minister to their souls.
• Get on the phone or have conversations before the day of rehearsal to get the creative juices flowing within the band
• Brokenness and Celebration are key to a worship band. To really build community, people must be able to bring their pain and challenges as well as be able to celebrate their victories within the team.
• To help your sound tech learn your expectations for the mix  -  watch a concert DVD on Mute with him or her and ask them to point out what sounds should be ‘in focus’ during various shots / parts of the concert.
• Bands should rehears the musical pad / fill / open spaces that happen in services.
• Layer rehearsals by doing each song for about 7-8 minutes then moving on to the next song. Repeat this process until each song has been rehearsed several times to improve memory / retention

Building and Audition System with Jason Hathey from The Journey Church

• Churches everywhere often share the same challenges.  “Go with what God gives you”
• The Majority of worship team members have a different ‘daytime’ profession
• Ministry / Serving is a pathway to Discipleship – people who are engaged in serving are more likely to be taking steps to grow in their faith to be come Christ-like, and to serve like Christ
• Auditioning is key in part because God has put us in a place to protect the platform where we worship.
• We don’t want people to only be committed to the team but also to the church.
• Make serving something that can be done in seasons – allow people to take a break – and have someone to replace them.
• Keep people in a place where they will succeed.
• Make an Audio recording of important meetings or orientation so that everyone can listen and learn even if they missed the meeting.

Inspiring Your Church to Worship – with Sam Middlebrook of DevelopingWorship.com

This was one of the most powerful sessions I’ve ever experienced at Willow Creek!

• Why People Don’t Engage in Musical Worship: 1) people don’t know Jesus as Savior and Lord. 2) They know Him as Savior but not as Lord. 3) They refuse to worship outside of their musical preference. They Worship songs, not the Lord. 4) they come from a tradition of reverence – which is actually a modern tradition.
• We often haven’t looked at what should go into our worship.
• Paul and Silas (Acts 16) were praising God in jail – it’s part of who they were. Praise is a common thread in the life of believers.
• Praise is 1) a response to God’s goodness. 2) gives us perspective on who God is verses who we are, 3) is based on God’s character and the things he does for his Children, 4) is a function of our will – not just our emotions.  Our emotions will motivate us to action.
• How we can be biblically inspired to Worship:
  • Lifting our Hands – Psalm 63
  • Clapping our Hands
  • Playing of Instruments
  • Standing – Nehemiah 9:5
  • Kneeling / Bowing – Psalm 95
  • Singing  – Psalm 47
  • Dancing and Leaping – Psalm 149
  • Shouting
• Every Believer should use all eight of those expressions in different seasons of praising God.
• These are the ways God has shown us in the scriptures that he likes to be loved.
• Worship is respect for the Holiness of God
• Worship is an intimate language of Love that comes from the attitude of our heart.
• Mark 12:41-44 – draws attention to not only what she gave, but just how much everyone else had been holding back in the offering of their lives.
• God sees when we hold back our lives and our praise.
• Preach to the excited the importance of Stillness and Reverence
• Preach to the Reverent the importance of Excitement
• Worship Leading is Teaching as well.

I’ll be posting as much as I can from the conference which is Wednesday June, 10th through Friday June 12.

These are my notes / recap of my favorite moments and quotes from today.  Oh… and by the time this post goes live, it won’t actually be ‘live’ but oh well.  It was an exciting title.  The notes are after the break.

Also, I had the neat experience of connecting to other Twitter users real time at the conference. I one of the vendors exclaimed my name when he saw me walk up to the table! He’d seen my tweets about the conference and recognized me from my picture on my profile.  Earlier in the day I connected with a stranger who happened to be in the same breakout session.  Even leading up to the conference, I found friends of mine who were also going to the conference.  It’s neat to see social networking in action IN REAL LIFE!  Now on to the notes…

Day 1 Opening and 1st Session:

• Opening: “Worship Leader Warm-up” – great parodies of our worship leader stereotypical moves (the microphone clap, the holding your chest while singing, the jumps we do… the clothes and styles that are popular right now).  Absolutely a fun and funny way to start the conference and set the tone!
• “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord” – Jeremiah 29:11 – a wonderful song was addressed to worship leaders as we struggle and press in what God has called us to do.
• I also enjoyed the dance / drama that talked about the inspiration and frustration of the creative process – realizing that what we do still comes from someone greater than ourselves (God).
• Realizing the Key Enemies of Wonder (Wonder is where where creativity is cultivated).  Top enemies of wonder for me were: Hurry, Noise, Information Overload, Unrealistic expectations, and the Absence of Celebration. (I have to actively work against those in order to overcome)
• Never forget the moment when you realized the awesomeness of this: “Jesus loves me”
• Take time to enjoy life.
• Top people I’m thankful for in the moment: Nick, Fran, Dr. Rodney, Sha, Willow Church Fam, Michael, Cheryl, Latrice, my small group
• I still have to get Shauna Niequest’s book: “Cold Tangerines” – I absolutely love her writing that draws you from the colorful details of everyday life to a celebration of thanks for all that God has made.
• Isaiah 29:13-14 – when our hearts were far from God – when we worshiped out of habit and grew cold, God responded by astounding us with wonder upon wonder. – what a powerful thought!
  

Session 2:  Interview with Darlene Zschech and Hillsong United leader Joel Houston

• Building a Worship Culture: “Serve the Lord with Gladness” – Psalm 100 and Psalm 45: God will anoint us (worship leaders) with the oil of Joy (gladness) and set us above our companions  – this is literally the call of a worship leader.  it’s humbling to see exactly how God calls us out and equips us.
• Intentionality in developing teams / leaders: being intentional about building pathways for people to find and develop their gift for leading in worship.
• Training is done weekly: Spiritual teaching as well as musical teaching.  Getting your own lessons outside of church is also expected.
• THIS IS HUGE: Being Committed to People for more than what they can (or can’t) do for your ministry.  Being willing to walk with them through the process of finding their right fit in ministry.  We have to earn the privilege to speak the truth in love to people.  When we have earned that, we can give people negative feedback yet they know that they are still loved and cared for.
• Hillsong has a songwriting culture, where all of there songs are reviewed, workshopped, tweaked, critiqued, and developed.  Many people are involved in the process and they even have a pastor who reviews the lyrics to be sure that they are all biblical!
• “Generational Transition” – being mindful that we’ll need to replace ourselves. Being prepared for God to give the increase and being able to accommodate that because leadership has already been developed.
• Hillsong Church: “Church isn’t built on the gifts and talents of a few, it’s built out of the sacrifices of many”
• Worship Leader Real Talk: don’t focus on a ‘dry audience’ or how people aren’t responding – we have to refocus on God in those times rather than be frustrated.  God may be working powerfully in their hearts, but YOU are looking for something you can see with your eyes (and that doesn’t require FAITH).
• Keeping your heart fresh / having a soft heart: Digging into the word is essential, Be led by the Spirit of God.  Keep your spirit nourished and your soul fed.  Have time to get away and do something that you enjoy.
• Proverbs 16:9 – God’s plans prevail – he’s already given us what is actually needed.
• Avoid the temptation to lead the way your leader does.  You have to find your style  – not live to copy another.
• Encourage someone else! See them grow and released into their ministry!
• Be BIG! BE BOLD!

I was totally blessed to hear the song “You’ll Come” being sung by thousands of creatives gathered in the name of Jesus Christ and being replenished spiritually as they sing with arms lifted high “Lord Come, Let your Glory fall as you respond to us. Spirit rain; flood into our thirsty hearts again”. To know that even world-famous worship artist like Hillsong United face frustration and need to be recharged is so powerful!

Breakout Session A: How to Build a Rockin’ Praise Band with Stan Endicott of Mariners Church

Key Points

• Build as much consistency with band members as possible – people have to learn each other and be able to ‘feel’ each other for greater growth and progress
• Communicate as much information as possible about your expectations for the style / grove of a song before people arrive for a rehearsal.  It’s key that people are engaging with the song(s) with this in mind before they arrive.  This also fosters creativity!
• This music is still entertainment so we must create excitement and grab someones attention naturally before we’ll be able to connect to them spiritually.
• I loved this worship lead statement ” Let’s fill God’s house with God’s word” then have the congregation repeat a scripture that leads into a song.
• 70% of music in church is what you’ve rehearsed – the other 30% is padding, fill, and open space – this kind of music needs to be rehearsed as well!
• Listen to the other parts (and be sure the mix is right so you can hear them well). you want the band to fill the entire campus – not everyone trying to paint in the same spot.
• The band / worship team should have the attitude of supporting / helping the worship lead to be the best that he or she can be.
• Key elements in a worship Community: Brokenness and Celebration – we have to bring both if we’re going to have authentic worship TOGETHER.
• Tip to help communicate to your sound guy:  Watch a DVD of your favorite concert – with the sound muted. Identify how the mix should change according to what’s on the screen.
• Tip for rehearsal: LAYERS – if rehearsing 4 songs – rather than spend 30 minutes each on the songs, layer it by doing 7.5 minutes on each song and cycling through so that the team can practice remembering the songs continually.
• Freedom vs. Structure: we’ll learn it exactly as it is written in practice, but be ready for it to be done differently.

Overall the day one was AWESOME… so great that I forgot to eat dinner before the Hillsong Concert!  I came home at 9pm just as excited and full of energy about all this as when I left at 8am!

But NOW it’s time for bed.  Night night!

This is why I love my church!  Willow Creek & Andy Marin: what kind of amazing things can happen from this connection?!  I love that my church is willing to jump into the messy, controversial, never-easy, topic of homosexuality in a way that isn’t fear based or centerd on condemnation or even reacting to the current political and media events.  It’s an honest and informed discussion that I think will help our congregation(s) to mature in how we handle this key topic in our society.

Check out the video or download the audio and listen in your spare time.  The entire 4 week series will be made available online.

For me, this service basically marks a year of me singing with Willow Chicago.  My first time singing was with the Chicago choir at Barrington for the Wednesday night New Community service in the summer of 2007.  That day we sang “I Just Can’t Give Up Now” and it was the beginning of me becoming part of the Willow Family.

In our prayer time today, I shared that when I came to Willow I wasn’t looking for a church home.  I was hurt and broken from the rejection / abandonment I received at my previous church due to my struggles with sexual sin.  I’d gone to them for help when things became out of control… and though I did all that they asked I do to “get free” – I wasn’t getting healed fast enough, or the way they expected.  It eventually caused them to exclude me from ministry.  This happened rather abruptly and little discussion and no follow-up.  The way things happened left me feeling hurt and bitter and out of fellowship for a year before I started seeking another place to be connected to the Body of believers.  I didn’t want to not be in church, I was just too hurt to go back to what was then my church.  This is when I decided to check out the church I’d seen billboards for on the L Train Platforms: Willow Creek Chicago.

From day one it seems I was connecting with a new and wonderful church, but the question still remained: would I be rejected again if they knew my battle? (and my failures?) I didn’t want to be a part of another church where it would have been better to hide and stay in the dark than to expose the truth and live in the Light.  So I told Pastor Steve and the ministry leaders about my issues.

I was received with care and with love.  Steve saw that I needed to be involved in Worship because of how life-giving it was for me.  The ministry team rallied around me in support and love – even thanking me for my transparency and openness!  To this day their love amazes me and encourages my faith in the difficult process of healing and change.

I still struggle (daily), but I’m no longer struggling with the need to prove my spirituality or spiritual growth to anyone.  I don’t feel the pressure to keep up some facade just because I’m ‘a minister’.  I feel like I can truly connect with the people I worship with and love and be loved.  I feel the amazing effects of God’s grace.  I’m learning how to form healthy relationships that in a Godly way fill the voids in my heart.  I’m getting the wise council that I yearned for, but could not find.  I’m even experiencing small victories and seeing patterns and habits change.

I’m in a difficult season right now as well.  I’m JUST learning about my needs for validation and approval.  Learning about unsafe places where I’ve sought safety and security in the past, and beginning to take steps to build more healthy and safe relationships and repair old ones.  I’m seeing my thought patterns that for ages have kept me bound by fear and limited my potential socially, financially, emotionally, and relationally.  It’s so difficult for me sometimes when I look at ALL that needs to be fixed right now. But I try to stay focused on one thing at a time, keep encouraged, and bit-by-bit open up more to those God has placed around me so I don’t have to face this thing called life alone.

Maybe someone reading this is down or needs encouragement.  To you I say: keep smiling, not because it just looks good but because eventually it’ll all be good and you have a great and eternal hope in God.  (Ok… that was really for me but I just thought I’d share! )

The Barrington Church gave us such a warm welcome.  They went so far as to build a life-size EL train platform!   It was beautifully realistic and detailed – even down to the no-smoking and warning signs!  Dinner was provided in the green room for the entire team before the Saturday night service and breakfast for the two Sunday morning services.  One of the Barrington worship leaders lead us in a song for prayer sparked a blaze of worship and hearts open for God through the entire weekend.  Literally, as each of the services progressed, there was a greater and greater passion that was building in all of us!

Senior Pastor Bill Hybels mentioned in the services that Willow Creek is becoming a singing church and that as a congregation the worship this weekend would be a deffinate time to experience that!  Willow Creek in the past has been a place where participation was very optional, however, things are shifting to being much more participatory -  especially in the form of congregational singing!  It has been my heart to see people liberated in worship… God has touched Hybels’ heart with that same vision and I’m eager to see more and more people giving praise with ALL that they have within them.

Willow Chicago will be leading worship in Barrington for two more weeks, and I pray that God will use us to spiritually set the church on fire with a passion for worship that can’t be quenched!!!

Unfortunately many out there are posturing this as “Willow Repents” and the beginning of the End of Willow Creek.  Unfortunately many haven’t read the book and are only responding to what OTHERS have said and how they have spun the situation.  I see bloggers riding high on their horses with this “I told ya so” attitude.  It would seem like they would have some form of compassion for a ministry that is just trying to ‘do church right’ for God’s glory — like hopefully we all are.

I guess I am frustrated by the notions that people put out there that their way is more biblical than others… citing that we need to go back to ‘the traditions’.  I question statements like that because most of what defines the North American church evolved LONG after the New Testament was written.  There is a LOT of tradition that has nothing to do with being Biblical — and I just want us not to make it more ‘biblical’ just because it’s ‘older’ than whatever modern practices or approaches are.  For example — we make certain English words essential to genuine faith when none of the bible was written in English – it’s all a translation or interpretation.  Shuoldn’t we all be engaged in a passionate pursuit of God’s truth – rather than fighting with each other about religious stuff?

The last time God gave 100% specific instructions for Worship was the Old testament and the building of the tabernacle.  In Christ there was an amazing shift from the priestly system to this family/community of believers who did life together in the book of Acts.  The New Testament church didn’t have it perfect (prompting Paul’s corrections / teachings) and we still don’t have it together today… although they did it WAY better than we do.

The reality is that we all will be 100% dependent on learning to hear and respond to God for how to ‘do church’ or anything else.  I think we become so short cited and see our lifetime as the fullness of God’s eternal plan.  God’s church is HUGE… I don’t think we can fathom all of it until Jesus himself appears and the end of this age comes.  In the mean time it’s my aim to prayerfully read the scriptures and seek the will of the Father.

One of the first things that I LOVED about Willow was the fact that the leadership could say when it was wrong and you regularly heard apologies and saw things change direction as a result.  I hadn’t commonly experienced that in other ministries where I’d been involved (short of some form scandal that HAD to have a response).  I think it’s a GREAT example to lead with the transparency of being a human who CAN and WILL get things wrong.   The history of the Church has NEVER been perfect — the reality is that it is being PERFECTED by Christ up until the day of His Return.