The Springs

More from Matt Chandler on Phillippians

The closer I get to having the chance to facilitate this course, the more pumped I am about that opportunity. We'll be starting on Wednesday nights in January.

Philippians Promo from The Hub on Vimeo.

A Top Ten List ...

So starting in January I will be facilitating Matt Chandler's study of Philippians as a discipleship class.

Why Philippians? I'll let Matt field that one himself. The following is from his blog.

Last year I was invited by The Hub (www.gotothehub.com) to pick a book of the Bible and teach it via video for small groups. I wrestled quite a bit and landed on the book of Philippians. Here are the 10 reasons I wanted to teach the book of Philippians:

1. How the church began. Acts 16 – Lydia is a wealthy Asian (Thyatira); the slave girl is an oppressed Greek, and the jailer was a middle class Roman. All were transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ…I love the diversity of that cast.
2. The book teaches that the gospel advances regardless of circumstance (Philippians 1:12-18). In an age where it is not uncommon to hear that you can put God into your debt by behaving, I thought this was extremely important.
3. Paul’s cry “To live is Christ and die is gain”! How could he not say that! Lydia was wealthy, religious and empty; the slave girl was bitter, oppressed and angry, and the Roman jailer was indifferent and cruel. All were lost in their lives. What else would you live for?
4. The book clearly teaches humility in the life of a believer. We can’t hear that topic enough. (Philippians 2)
5. Paul ferociously outlines the reasons to pursue Christ. (Philippians 3:1-11)
6. Then, he follows it up by teaching how to pursue Christ. (Philippians 3:12-21)
7. Chapter 4 talks about what the heart and mind of a man of God looks like. This is invaluable information as there seems to be some confusion on this matter.
8. Contentment is a gift more precious than jewels. (Philippians 4:10-19)
9. It gave me a chance to remind everyone that Philippians 4:13 isn’t about playing sports, making the team or being successful in business.
10. Because if I can help us be "the lights of this world holding fast to the word of life" I would humbly and gladly spend my life doing so.

Big Rooms, Big Rock Stars, and Big Hair (an album review)

So I went to the Georgia Dome to see a concert last night. It seats about 72,000 people. Probably a few more for a concert because people actually get to stand on the football field for the show in addition to sitting in the seats. It is a BIG building. Too big for most artists to be able to do a show there. Not only would it be hard to sell that many tickets, but once the people are in there you have to do something so big that they feel entertained as opposed to feeling gipped for spending concert ticket prices to watch tiny people sing from a long distance.

Luckily the show was U2 and despite the enormity of it, they served up a spectacle worthy of the task at hand.

The staging was BIG, the sound was BIG, the band was larger than life. It was a good show.

And it got me thinking about the Christian music industry.

Throughout history Christians have always been at the forefront of the arts. J.S. Bach, Michaelangelo, and Handel to name a few are artists that put their faith into action and had a global impact.

Their creativity was unmatched and it impacted the world at large.

Unfortunately something happened in the 20th century as pop music became the dominant artistic musical vision for our culture. The church started playing catch up instead of leading the pack. Christian artists often became copy cats trying to replicate the latest sound rather than the trailblazers that their Spirit led creative impulses could have empowered them to become.

I sat and watched the show last night and wondered ...

What Christian artist could play a room this big?

Now I know that most rock stars are narcissistic and that Christian artists should leverage their gifts to point to God rather than themselves, but I was just thinking along musical lines.

Whose music could hold up as interesting in a room this big.

Who is writing epic songs for our God?

Who could reverberate the praises of our risen Savior in such an environment?

I am sure there may be others, but here's my vote.

David Crowder.

I've had his new album "Church Music" in the iTunes rotation for a few weeks now, and it is groundbreaking. 17 tracks and yet they all blend together into almost a seemless act of ... well ... worship.

Musically, it is a ride through modern electronica orchestrated with big strings, haunting pianos, and some fierce guitar work. 

There aren't many tracks that your local congregation will be working into their worship sets for the same reasons that after Sgt. Pepper it was difficult for the Beatles to pull off any of their late work live. Crowder and his bandmates have put together an aural work of art that has layers and layers of textures.

The songs are epic, and they point you to God.

If you want to get lost in 73 minutes of cutting edge worship, go pick it up.

Yeah ... Crowder's sound would have been able to fill a Dome sized arena and make it work musically ... and how could he bridge the visual gap of a room that big? Com'mon it's Crowder, he could work a room that big with just his hair.

Blueprint for a Relaunch !

OK, following up on my last post, what steps do you take in order to "relaunch" a worship service?

Here's a few steps we are taking.

Step 1) Pray ... without ceasing.

Step 2) Keep the vision in the forefront. The "Springs" service at FBCPS is an environment where God's people gather weekly to celebrate and re-enact His story through song, word, and media.

It is an intentional contemporary setting that presents the opportunity for that life-changing story to be shared with a culture that is largely disconnected from the traditional trappings of church.

It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that this service is just about our personal music preferences. Sometimes we need a reminder of the mission that God has each believer taking part in. We are setting aside a day in November to refocus on that mission.

• LeadNow '09 Simulcast - November 7 - Here's the lineup ... George Barna, Francis Chan, Mark Batterson, Donald Miller, Catherine Rohr, Matt Chandler, Anne Jackson ... it's gonna be good!

Step 3) Pray ... without ceasing.

Step 4) Train your people. No long explanation here ... just upcoming opportunities.

• "First Impressions" Team Luncheon (Greeters, Ushers, Parking Lot) - September 13.
• Audio Engineering Society "Sound for Worship" Workshop (Audio Team) - October 2.
• Vocal Artistry Workshop (Contemporary Choir & Praise Team Vocalists) - October 16-17.
• Production Boot Camp (Projection, Lighting Operators, & stage hands) - still in the works, but coming soon.

Step 5) Pray ... without ceasing.

Yeah ... there's some rebranding stuff to do, and probably some marketing, but those are all periphery things. First, we're gonna get prayed up, refocused, and well trained.

Synergy is the term used to describe a situation where different entities cooperate advantageously for a final outcome. Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

When these steps come together and this thing relaunches, hopefully it will create some synergy that creates momentum for the Kingdom of God.

Keep praying!

Coming in 2010 ... Springs Worship 2.0

I've been mulling over this quote from Jim Collins "How The Mighty Fall" for a few weeks now.

"When the rhetoric of success ('We're successful because we do these specific things') replaces penetrating understanding and insight ('We're successful because we understand why we do these specific things and under what conditions they would no longer work'), decline will very like follow."

Collins book looks at why some businesses that seem to be destined to sustain a culture of success suddenly crash and burn. His findings reveal a lot of wisdom that the church could draw from.

Bear in mind that I am a worship leader, not a pastor. In my worship context however (an older, established congregation) I am called upon fairly regularly to evaluate our methodologies in reaching the next generation. That said, I am thinking through the application of this leadership axiom as it applies to the "Springs" (the contemporary service at First Baptist).

I don't want to fall into the trap of relying upon the rhetoric of our success. I want to be able to evaluate continually what works and what does not work and know "why."

So that is the question as we begin to plan for 2010.

Why?

Why are we doing the things we do?

If we were starting from scratch why would we choose to establish our worship culture in the way that we are choosing to? If the "Springs" was a church plant instead of a worship service option within a multi-generational congregation, what would we be doing differently? Why aren't we doing those things now?

Those are the questions.

The answers will come in the days ahead, and then, prayerfully, a plan will unfold.

Sometime next year, we'll relaunch. Same God, same people entrusted to carry out his will, same mission, but refocused on our local context, and with a firm understanding of why we do what we do. 

It is just as easy for a church to get stuck in the rut of doing things the way they did in 2005, as it is for a church to get stuck doing things they way they did in the 1950's. Both lead eventually to decline and ineffectiveness. You get stuck because you stop asking why.

May the Lord keep us from getting stuck and may He direct us to maximize our efforts to the glory of His Name.

Stay tuned!

A Sneak Preview . . .

I've been finalizing plans for week two of our Refresh event here at the church, which takes places over the course of three weeks in August.

Week two is when the contemporary ministry puts their spin in things and our particular weekend has been dubbed "Rekindle."

Dictionary.com defines that word as "to revive or renew." That's our prayer for that Saturday and Sunday, that God would use that time to revive us as a people and to renew us in preparation to do good things for His glory.

Ed Newton is coming in that weekend. He's a great communicator and I know he's gonna just plain bring it. You can learn more about him here ...

My boy Ed !

Also, here's a sneak peak at a couple of the new songs we'll be rolling out that weekend.

Stronger - It has been a long time since a song grabbed me like this one.

New Doxology - Complete with the song story behind it.

 

Back in the Saddle Again

OK ... so Steven, the new church tech guy, is updating the church web site and is including links for several of the minsters to blog, so I guess I need to get at it again!

Four Months Later

No excuses ... I'm just a slacker.

Optimistically I share with you that my wife got me an iPhone for my birthday and I just downloaded the TypePad App so that I can update my blog by phone so maybe that will help me post more frequently.

Other than the fact that I can now hang out with all of the "cool" ministry kids, this thing really is going to be an asset to what I do.

All of my contacts are always with me in one location, and I can use the GPS to get to their homes if needed.

I downloaded an App that functions as a guitar tuner, metronome, and a chord dictionary.

I am downloading the songs for each weeks worship set as an iPod playlist and they are readily available at rehearsal.

I've got the whole bible in any version at my fingertips ...

It's a whole new world.

Wild Goose Chase

Life ... for the Lanier's at least, involves taking our four kids wherever they are supposed to be at any given moment. It involves me staying tuned in to God's vision for Contemporary Worship at FBCPS. It involves myself and Melissa assisting with the college ministry here at the church. It involves financial decisions and home repairs and auto maintenance and homework and witnessing opportunities and family obligations and finding time for friends. It involves taking out the garbage and prioritizing daily and doctor's appointments and dental checkups and finding time to give back to those in need. It involves shopping and surfing the web and playing video games and riding bicycles and yardwork ... and ...

 ... well ... that's just the planned stuff, the surprises can toss things any direction on any given day.

Life sometimes takes away the time you had intended to devote to other things ... like oh say ... blogging. But something finally got my attention enough to at least sit down for a few moments. It's a new book, and it is about pursuing the Holy Spirit. I'll let the author, Mark Batterson, sum it up.

Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit–An Geadh-Glas, or ‘the Wild Goose.’ The name hints at mystery. Much like a wild goose, the Spirit of God cannot be tracked or tamed. An element of danger, an air of unpredictability surround Him. And while the name may sound a little sacrilegious, I cannot think of a better description of what it’s like to follow the Spirit through life. I think the Celtic Christians were on to something…

Most of us will have no idea where we are going most of the time. And I know that is unsettling. But circumstantial uncertainty also goes by another name: Adventure.

What got my attention is how much the routine of my life has dulled the adventure of following the "wild goose." Now I haven't finished the book yet, life is busy, like I wrote, but I can already hear God whispering that I need to stop surviving this life He gave me, and get back to living it.

Catching up !!!

Wow ... things got busy in a hurry as we head into Fall, and my attentiveness to the blog is what has suffered.

First of all, our church witnessed a powerful reconnection with our Savior over the course of re:Connect weekend. Wade Morris and Dr. Harper Shannon both brought words of challenge and encouragement to our people and it is apparent that we are entering the new school year grounded in God's purposes and passion for people.

Worship has been rich the last few weeks. I will get around to posting the stories behind the songs we've been singing lately. I am just in full on catch up mode right now.

Actually I suppose it is more of ... get everything done before leaving town mode because my family is heading to Disney World next week. They offer a free dining plan during the month of September, and the Lanier's like to eat so we are taking the kids out of school (I consider it an onsite week of homeschool education focusing upon the tourism industry) and heading to Orlando. Here's praying the hurricanes steer clear of Florida!

Finally ... our church league Fantasy Football season is about to kickoff and I wanted to change my team name. I wanted to go with Battlestar Cadillactica and then show up to the draft in a sweet ride like this.

 Note the studs around the front fender!

That said my plan was foiled when Yahoo limited my team name to 20 characters. 20 characters! Com'mon Yahoo, you're gonna stiffle my creativity with your character limitations?

I guess so. It just wasn't meant to be, so I stuck with my old name, Dr. J & the Beatdown (and yes it is "&" with an ampersand because of the 20 character rule. GRRRRRR Yahoo!) At least I found a sweet Ninja to serve as the Beatdown's team mascot.

Looking back over this post I can tell from the rambling tone that my vacation is near. Have a safe Labor Day and enjoy the opening weekend of college football, which by way, anyone notice who is pre-season #1? GO DAWGS!