Matt Chandler is one of the best communicators of the Gospel and if I could ever sit down with someone and talk preaching, he would be at the top of my list.
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Theology and Doxology are deeply intertwined. Theology isn’t exclusive to the business of pastors and doxology isn’t exclusive to the musicians and rock stars. While there is a tendency in the church to see these on opposite ends of the spectrum, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Matt Boswell, in Doxology and Theology writes, “Worship leaders ought to come to lead the people of God with a guitar in one hand, a Bible in the other, and know how to use each weapon well.” Doxology & Theology is not just a book for worship leaders, but a book for anyone who is doing pastoral ministry. Matt Boswell and a host of other brilliant theologians and worship pastors have gotten together to be a resource for worship leaders calling us to take this task seriously.
This book is clearly written to music people, but I think that despite it’s clear tone and audience of “worship leaders” it is a book that is valuable for all roles. You are a worship leader, whether you have a guitar in your hand or bucket full of candy. If you serve people – whether that be through music, children’s ministry, student ministry, or preaching – understanding your role and specifically the connection between doxology and theology is important to the life of the church.
“Fear. It was fear that killed my parents. On the far side of the world, I tasted fear in it’s purest form and thought I’d conquered it. But, fear followed me home…” – Batman
I have to make a confession; I am afraid of most animals. I think they are all cute and stuff, but at the end of the day I want to keep myself at a distance and be ready in case they attack. Perhaps my fear of animals is silly and I just need to get over my dog destroying my G.I. Joes when I was a little boy, but don’t we all have fears?
What do you fear?
Fear will always cause a person to react. If you are afraid of getting pulled over by a cop, you will drive slower. If you are afraid of getting caught cheating, you will either avoid cheating or be more secretive about it. Fear might cause you to run away or it might cause you get ready to fight. Depending on how you view God, you might look at him with fear. If the thought of God causes you to be afraid, it will cause you to react. You might react by rebelling against him, you might react by ignoring him, or you might even react by doing what he says with hopes that you might appease him.
My wife is a stay-at-home mom; I have no doubt that this is one of the most significant callings in the world. What if women who stayed at home with their kids understood the significance of the calling that God has given them as a mother? My dad has this boss who recently told them that he needed to make sure to not be in work on Sunday so he could spend time with his family. What if more bosses didn’t simply try to maximize the profit an employee can make, but also actually cared that their employees were spending time with the people who matter most? A recent survey said that 77% of teenagers want to be their own boss someday. Imagine the world we would live in if we helped these teenagers understand the significance of starting businesses in a God-honoring, kingdom building kind of way. What if the future businesses in your city were all run by people who believed they have a calling by God to be a blessing to the world through the running of their organizations.
Do you like stuff? Everybody likes stuff, right?
We live in a world that is all about having more stuff. We want more apps, more music, a new phone, a new video game, more friends, and so on. This desire to have more is a common temptation for people; it’s the temptation that we need more in order to be happy. Somehow we have been convinced that we need something it would make us happy. If we had this phone, if we made this much money, or if we had these friends then we would be happy. But the problem is that our stuff might make us temporarily happy, but they will not bring us joy.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon searches for stuff that will make him happy. Solomon actually denies himself nothing that he wants. He looks for happiness in money. He throws giant parties and quickly finds that once the party is over he just needs to throw another party, with more people and a bigger band. He pursues relationships with women. He builds tons of buildings. And in all of this pursuit he says, “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.” – Ira Glass
HT: Echo Hub
God. Religion. Consumerism. Confession. Sin. Truth. Marriage. Money. If these were the words of a preacher, it would be no surprise. Ben Haggerty, commonly known as Macklemore, has made fame rapping, or should I say preaching, about topics which often are undiscussed in the genre of hip-hop. He writes words like, “The greatest trick that the devil ever pulled was convincing women that they looked better in makeup” and, “When I was at church they taught me something else, if you preach hate at the service those words aren’t anointed.”
Macklemore is a preacher. He may not have the same agenda, the same source of truth, or even the same beliefs. But he is a preacher. He has set out to proclaim a message; he has set out to inspire people and start a movement. He wants to change culture. And I think preachers could learn a few things from the way he approaches his art.
This post comes from an excerpt of a mini eBook and small group curriculum available on iTunes called “What’s Your Kryptonite?”
“If you’re using half your concentration to look normal, then you’re only half paying attention to whatever else you’re doing…You want society to accept you, but you can’t even accept yourself.” - X-Men: First Class
Who are you?
My first instinct, if I’m trying to answer that question, is to start by describing myself. I might describe the roles that I have – a father, a husband, a youth minister. Or I might describe some of the things I like to do. This question, while on the surface is quite simple, is loaded with depth. How you answer it describes the way that you see yourself. As a Christian, how do you see yourself? Where do you find your identity? If we’re honest, that’s not always a simple question. Continue Reading…
Riet Schumack, mixing her passions of gardening and children, has been living out her calling in the city of Detroit by making community gardens. Brightmoor moved to the city of Detroit in 2006 and this is how she has been serving her neighbors.
Church is weird. And don’t worry, I’m not suggesting we change that. Acknowledging our weirdness can be helpful for those of us who have become accustomed to the way church is done. As more and more people are less interested in church, more and more people are not familiar with the common practices of church. This means that churchgoers and church workers would do well to be aware of how weird our weekly practices are. Let’s learn to be a church that not only embraces our weirdness, but also help new people understand why we do what we do.
7 Practices That Make Church Weird
1. We are all supposed to sing together. This is not a very common thing to do. You may have sung with a group of people in your high school choir, at a major league baseball game, or maybe even a birthday party. Outside of that, it’s not very common.
