Breaking Fresh Ground

YES!!

This weekend at LifePoint church we were lead to worship by our Youth Worship Leader Aaron Buonacorsi and the rest of our weekend team.  He is an awesome 19 year old young man, loves the Lord with all of his heart, and is gifted musically.  We were prepping for services and wanted to have a time of prayer before communion where people could pray on our steps alone, or in our new "prayer alcoves" with others. As a Programming Director with a music ministry background, I cant help but think about different ways we can facilitate these moments while keeping open for God to do His thing, bring ideas for certain songs, find places in the set that this might fit best, etc. I had a song and placement idea that I thought was perfect (of course I did :) and brought the idea to Aaron. I was completely thrilled by what happened next.  Aaron let me know that he appreciated my idea, and then very respectfully told me that he had thought it through, and that instead of going into a new song with the guitar for our prayer time (my idea), that he had decided that continuing in the same key and song would flow much better, and that he had already spoken with Rachel (the vocalist that would be singing through the prayer portion) and that they were good to go.  I'm not sure why it was such a "moment" for me, but from watching him come to rehearsal on thursday COMPLETELY prepared, knowing exactly what he wanted to do, to playing a Lincoln Brewster guitar solo like a pro, from singing his heart out in full abandon, to being authentic and real in front of hundreds of people, I just thought, man.. HE GETS IT.  I was so proud of him.  Being a leader is one thing, but to see young leaders emerge, and walk in what God has called them to is AWESOME. YES!!!

I'm in good company...

I'm learning a lot about myself.  Now that we are really gearing up for Christmas services at CVC  where I work as the Programming Director, I am getting to see very clearly what type of person I AM, and what type of person I am NOT!  Man, it's tough when you really want to be the "go with the flow", "easy going", "life of the party," all fun, all the time" kind of person, and you finally concede that it's just not how God made you!

I am coming to terms with the fact that I have lots of traits that are well, BORING.  I am a planning, list making, action-plan organizing, just the facts ma'am, no nonsense, efficiency oriented, get er' done kind of gal!  I like order, and I want at least some inkling as to what the outcome of a situation is going to be before I jump in feet first.  If and when I do jump in, I want to get things done!  I'll even admit, a lot of the time, I am a "glass half empty" kind of person.  (UGH, that stinks.)

What's really cool is that as I get to know my team better, I can see that it's not a such bad thing that I'm that way, because many of them are NOT!!  I know full well that many of the traits that I posses can be a pain in the you know what, and can even get in the way of good things if not kept in check, but I'm seeing that we all have a lot to learn, and can actually learn from one another. 

There are some peeps who I will go to with nervous energy about a daunting task or situation, and after spending minutes with them,  I will walk away feeling peaceful, assured, calm, and collected.  I love that!!  Our Worship Arts Pastor is one of those people.  He is humble, honest, straightforward, and encouraging.  He is not afraid to admit that he makes mistakes, and he is a thinker.  He thinks things through before he speaks, and then has a positive outlook as he expresses his opinions for possible solutions to problems.  In addition to this, he knows when to "scrap the plan", and just "let go, and let God!" I'm so thankful that I get to work with people like that!

Look around at the team of people that you work with.  They are probably much different than you, and I can't help but think that is why God placed you on a team together!  Instead of wishing everyone would see things as you do, take comfort in the fact that they don't!    

Give it up!

I read this question recently, and thought it was a good one for us to ask ourselves...

"What is on your plate that you KNOW you aren't good at?  Why don't you go ahead and admit it because everybody around you already knows, and are probably praying that you will stop it anyway!!"

DANG!

10 things...

I read this on one of my fave Leadership blogs, and I thought it was pretty good stuff..

10 THINGS THAT CAN TEMPT AND BRING DEATH TO A LEADER:     by Shane Duffey

1. Focus on personal advancement instead of team success.
2. Shift blame to others instead of absorbing it yourself.
3. Avoiding a hard conversation because you might not be liked afterward.
4. Wanting to be heard instead of trying to listen.
5. Delegating to the point of being unaware.
6. Make decisions that please people instead of the right ones.
7. Delaying tough decisions under the disguise of needing more information.
8. Always acting like you know all the answers.
9. Never seek advice or wisdom for fear of appearing incapable of your role

10.  Believing that you know all you need to know about what you do.

Let them see Jesus...

Got Excellence?

Another great post from Shane @ www.whatleadershipdemands.com

If you look up the term excellence in a dictionary you’ll find the following words used to define it: excelling, eminence, high quality, unusual goodness or worth… just to name a few. As we strive for excellence as a church and I strive for excellence in my life and work, I’m starting to see that true excellence is all of those things, but one more qualifier must exist. Excellence = removing everything (from a worship service, discipleship process, volunteer experience, my life, etc…) that distracts someone from seeing Jesus. We can offer great quality and effort in all we do, but if we’re not careful we can be so good that we make an idol out of whatever it is we’re doing so well and allow Jesus to be overlooked. That, by any definition, would not equal excellence.

Work without Recognition

I was reading one of my favorite blogs (www.whatleadershipdemands.com), and it got me thinking about all of the work that is involved into making ministry happen.  Shane blogged about the fact that he gets a little annoyed when talking to churches that aren't willing to "do work" to make things happen.  It's easy to understand limitations of finances, or even certain skills, but to limit the possibilities of what God can do just because something might be a lot of work?  That's just plain sad.  Since I've been working at church I've seen loads of people who put A LOT of work into making great things happen.  I personally love working with music and/or production to do some of this stuff. It's fun working to implement creative ideas, and to have so many people see what your perseverance has brought!!  In these types of areas, people see what you do, and appreciate you for it. 

 I don't want to discount these types of ministries as they are VERY important, but recently I've been really blessed by seeing volunteers in action that do "behind the scenes" work that people may NEVER recognize.  They do it because they love people and because they love Jesus, not because they want people to see what they've done. They don't get to be on stage, they don't get their names mentioned in a service, or get to be on camera, but they work their tails off because they see a need, and they want to help.  They clean toys, pull weeds, put their efforts into construction projects, blow little kid's noses and change diapers, pray with others, fold bulletins, etc. with virtually no recognition. So.. today I want to personally recognize, and say "THANK YOU" to all of those kinds of people who sacrifice in ways that maybe only God sees.  May your lives be richly blessed because of it!

If you don't have anything nice to say...

Have you ever overheard someone "talking smack" about you?  Check this out.. I'm in the bathroom of the CHURCH where I am employed, and I hear someone ranting and raving to another church employee about how nit-picky and unreasonable I am.. about how It's unfair of me to impose guidelines for people to follow as they serve. Blah, blah, blah..  (Can you tell that mercy is not high on my giftings list?)  Can you imagine her dismay when I came out of the stall, and politely said, "Hi, How are you?"  I washed my hands and fixed my hair SLOWLY while she fumbled over her words.  The look on her face was priceless!! A tip:  If you feel the need talk about someone behind their back, the restroom at their workplace is probably not the place to do it.

We did it!

My friends Sunny and Dave and I actually led worship at our staff meeting today while playing OUR GUITARS.  (Dave is an accomplished player and teacher and has led worship many times with his guitar, but us girls are total beginners) Yep, we played in front of living breathing people!

It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either.  It definitely made me realize how much more practicing I need to do.  Since I came really close to backing out quite a few times, I feel pretty proud that I actually went through with it.  It can only get better right?

A True Worshipper...

I read this post on www.ragamuffinsoul.com, and had to repost it.  I cried off my mascara just looking at the picture. It really puts into perspective the reason why we lead worship.. It is SOOO not about us..

Holding Worship

Posted on 23 March 2008
Tags: Authenticity, Worship Leading

Easter.
So much going on. So much to do.
I was leading worship today yet couldn’t take the executive producer hat off so I was thinking about tons. Cut this song? Redo lights there? Pull the painting? Have Jeff do the invitation? Blah Blah Blah Blah.
I was exhausted. We picked a fairly high energy worship set and did 5 fairly taxing songs.
So I walked in this evening. I was tanked. We rehearsed and ate and I was honestly kind of waiting for the night to get going so we could lead and go home.
Then it hit me like it does every week that these people at the 6 pm service are coming to church for the first time today. Gut check. Time to sing.
Walked out. Salvation Is Here…LALALALALA.
I’m in verse 2 and I look to my left and am hit like a blind side pick and roll.
Swaying on the front row was a guy I later learned was named Matt.
Standing in front of him was another guy named Jefferson.
It was a moment that stands out above all else in my 11 years of leading worship.
You see Matt and Jefferson were worshipping God, together.
Literally.
Jefferson has severe cerebral palsy. He has little, if any control over his body.
Matt was standing behind Jefferson.
Holding Jefferson.
20 minutes.
Dancing with Jefferson and singing at the top of his lungs.
Jefferson was singing too. I think could hear him.
And it was the most beautiful song I have ever heard.

There are hundreds of thoughts, emotions, and lessons that could go along with Matt and Jefferson.
To watch them sing out and dance was a thing of beauty. Obedience. Unbridled Joy.
Thank you Matt and Jefferson for a shifting moment in my life.
I honestly want all of you to comment here.
What can we all learn from this picture of Authenticity?

Are YOU up for the challenge?

Because I'm a ministry "newbie" (I just took a position as First Impressions Coordinator at my awesome church in Minden, NV) I've been checking out a lot of leadership oriented blogs.  I read this checklist today at LifeChurch.tv.  I hope every leader that reads it will be challenged by it as I have been...

Ten Questions: Ministry

By Craig Groeschel on leadership

Is our vision so big that we obviously can’t accomplish it without God? Am I doing ministry from memory or from fresh direction from God? What ministry (or program or meeting) has lost its effectiveness and should be stopped? Is there a person who needs to be moved to another role (or removed), and I haven’t done it? What faith risk is God calling me to take? Have I repented to my team at least once in the last year for a failure in leadership? Have I done everything in my power to make sure my team is living without unconfessed sin? Am I expressing love and care for my team members’ families? Am I living with delayed obedience toward God in any area of leadership? Is Jesus my sole motivation for ministry or has my motivation become clouded?