Ministry

The Vine

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As we planned for today’s worship, we studied the passage of John 15 concerning our need to stay connected to Christ to accomplish anything.  So what we planned to highlight is to see the fruit of those who are accomplishing great things here in our church.

We highlighted some children’s and student ministry leaders.  We wanted to hear them talk about their commitment and the reward of service.

We then wanted to be led in some of the “fruit” of their work.  We had our student band lead worship for part of the service, and we also had some of our children lead us in worship.  They sang one of the songs from this year’s VBS.  When I heard them do it at VBS, I knew we had to use them.  Such a beautiful expression of worship.

Today’s worship list:

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Why Ministers Love Yard Work

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It’s been a little hot lately.  Greenwood has been cooking.  With these early summer temperatures sky-rocketing for the area, most people are letting their yards go.  Deal with the yard when it cools down.  After all, it can’t grow that much in this type of heat!

That’s the way some people feel.

Not me.  I love it.  I love yard work.  I love to get out there and work and sweat and get cut up and bleed.  I look forward to it.

And, for a very interesting reason, I know many other ministers who love yard work as well.  Even among the scorching heat, the hard work accomplished, and for all the things that still need to be done, many ministers love to get out and do yard work and here’s why:

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For Liberty and Justice for All

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Today, the United States celebrates Independence Day.  To remember our freedom, we will keep our neighbors up all night by the shooting of fireworks and eating plenty of BBQ.  For liberty and justice for all.

While I am thankful for the liberty and justice that the US provides, there is a higher justice for which all believers should strive.

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“Make Me Holy” – Storytellers

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“Make me holy through and through, less of me and more of You, help me live pleasing to You.”

I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes).  Track #6 is a song called “Make Me Holy” which we originally recorded on “The Time is Now” project.

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The Holy Spirit

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What a great, unexpected, turn-at-every-moment day with North Side!  As we were gathering for soundcheck this morning, the power went out completely out in the worship center.  With flashlights going and people scrambling, it appears that all the AC units in Greenwood on non-stop decided to take out our air and electricity at 8:40 Sunday morning.

So, what is a worship pastor to do?  I got the right people working on getting it back on, and I gathered the worship team in the commons area outside the worship center.  I told them we would either do things acoustic in the dark or out in that open area with no AVL or we would try to setup up shop in the gym.  But in the moment, we just gathered round some acoustic instruments and began to worship.  I have actually planned for a more acoustic service later this month to worship like our family is over in Africa, and thought maybe God wanted it earlier.  In our prayers, we didn’t pray for the power to come back on, we just wanted to be obedient in however God wanted to teach us this morning.

At about 9:20 when people were gathering to go inside the doors, our team was singing “I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it, when it’s all about you, all about you, Jesus,” and then the lights came on.  We went into the room with people finding their seats, plugged in our instruments, got a camera feed up so we could watch our baptisms, and started the service on time.

I say this a lot, but today is one of those days I don’t think anyone truly understands how serious I am about this: our worship team is amazing.  They are incredibly flexible, no one was running frantic, no one seemed frazzled, no one was rude to one another, we just each did our part and God decided that we should have power back at that time.  And as everyone came prepared, the services went off great without anyone able to see anything that would have said there was no run-through that morning.  I am honored to work with such great people.

Today, we worshiped to:

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“All Things New” & “Selah #1” – Storytellers

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I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes).  This storyteller edition covers the remix of “All Things New” and the next track that is an instrumental reprise of that track.

We originally recorded this song on “The Time is Now” project.  I never really imagined that for a upbeat song, many people told me how the words impacted their lives as it focuses on the grace of Jesus.  As a way to re-introduce the song, our band reworked it one night.

Here’s what we changed:

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Bad Church Sign: “Our New Minister…”

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I had to share a bad church sign with you that reads:

“OUR NEW MINISTER ASKED ME TO CHANGE THIS SIGN – SO I DID”

Hmmm…I wonder if the chairman of the marquee committee likes his new pastor or not?  While this makes me laugh at first glance, it also reveals a tragic mindset at second glance.  People are losing more and more respect for their pastors.

And you know why people are losing respect for their pastors?

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“Glorified” – Storytellers

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I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes).  “Glorified” is track #3 on the album and also part of the 1st nonstop musical sequence on the album (a majority of the tracks run into each other).

I wrote this song back in 2010.  As a worship leader, my heart has grown to be much more concerned with what happens in the lives of our worshipers Monday-Saturday than what happens in a brief few moments together on Sunday.  If all I do is provide people with a religious, emotional, or musical experience, I have failed them as a pastor.

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Greater Works

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What a wonderful day to be a part of North Side!  We still have the Last Supper table setup on stage.  Strutton did a great job recreating this scene for our stage.  For weeks, Jeff will be preaching from the teaching that Jesus gave all from the Last Supper table.  It’s surreal for me listening to this powerful Scripture and realizing that Jesus dropped all of it while he was eating a meal.  And his dinner conversation could be the content for weeks and weeks of sermons!

Today, we worshiped to:

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“Enter His Gates” – Storytellers

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I wanted to share another story behind the song from one of the tracks off of our “Enter His Gates” album (You can get your copy of the album at the church or on iTunes).  The title song, “Enter His Gates,” was a song I wanted to write for a while.  Psalm 100 is such a rich portion of Scripture and such an enduring call to worship.

We have used this Scripture as teaching for much of what we do at North Side.  We are not called to enter into God’s presence and then start the thanksgiving and praise.  We are called to enter in already in the process!  Worship is a lifestyle, and so when we gather together with God’s people, which is a very special thing, we should continue to give thanks.

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